Jimmy Nguyen

Jimmy Nguyen (pronounced like “gwin”) is a first-generation Vietnamese-American actor originally from Omaha, NE. He has worked across the nation at various regional theatres including the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Black Hills Playhouse in Custer, SD, and Hope Repertory Theatre in Holland, MI. In 2021, he was a part of the world premiere of an Asian-American musical called Gold Mountain produced by the Utah Shakespeare Festival. In 2023, he took over as an immediate replacement for the roles of Benvolio in Romeo & Juliet and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in their last month of peformances. Also in 2023, he was a swing for The Dragon King’s Daughter, a TYA musical produced at The Kennedy Center.

In January of 2020, Jimmy won the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region V Irene Ryan Acting Award. This allowed him to take a trip to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC to take classes and workshops with the industry’s top theatre professionals. At the Kennedy Center, he took workshops involving movement, mask-work, voice and breath, and advocating for himself as an actor of color. Jimmy has taken workshops involving the art of Suzuki and Shakespeare during his time as an acting intern for Hope Repertory Theatre. He also trained in various styles of clowning, movement, dance, greek chorus work, Commedia, and mask at the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre.

His identity as a first-generation Vietnamese-American guides his practice and how he approaches his craft. Growing up, he didn’t have access to a lot of role models in media that looked like him. As a kid scrolling through TV channels and seeing Asian Americans repeatedly portrayed as bullied school nerds, gas station clerks, laundromat workers, cab drivers, and punches of one-line jokes, he decided he wanted to change that narrative. He is ongoing a journey of finding his identity and is unlearning self prejudice, relearning self-respect, and continues to honor his body, mind, and culture. Every day, he continues to challenge what it means to be an Asian American actor.