Vietnamese Actor Lian Bingfa Rewrites Taiwan Television History, From Tour Guide to Golden Bell Best Actor
Sixty years of the Golden Bell Awards. For the first time, a Vietnamese actor takes Best Actor.
First Vietnamese Best Actor in 60 years
On the Golden Bell Awards night this October, 35-year-old Vietnamese actor Lien Binh Phat walked onstage in a traditional ao dai to accept the Best Leading Actor award. It was the first time a Vietnamese national had won the prize since the ceremony began in 1965. He thanked the audience in Mandarin, English, and Vietnamese, then said, visibly moved, that he deeply loves the warmth Taiwan has given him.
"The Outlaw Doctor": a medical crime drama that tests moral boundaries
Lien Binh Phat stars as Vietnamese plastic surgeon Pham Van Ninh in the PTS series "The Outlaw Doctor" (Hua Wai Zhi Yi). The 11-episode drama debuted in March and quickly topped streaming charts for Taiwanese series.
The story opens with a gas explosion. Pham Van Ninh travels to Taiwan to pay for his mother's medical bills, but immigration issues bar him from practicing legally. He ends up cleaning a hospital morgue by day and treating undocumented migrant workers on the side. When the explosion strikes, he teams up with neurosurgeon Zheng Wanping (played by Chang Chun-ning) to save the injured — only to be exposed and reported as an unlicensed doctor.
The two move from adversaries to allies, drawn into the gray zone of labor brokers and the dark corners of organ trafficking, constantly torn between the law and human life.
In the finale, Pham Van Ninh tries to stow away on a boat back to Vietnam to reunite with his mother. Three gunshots ring out on the vessel — Zheng Wanping hears them through the phone, their last connection.
The character's struggle between legality and compassion mirrors the reality of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese migrant workers in Taiwan. The production team spent six years on field research, weaving real cases into the script. The Taiwan-Vietnam co-production sparked widespread discussion after airing.
Former tour guide, entered acting at 26
Lien Binh Phat had no formal training. Born in 1990 in southern Vietnam, he worked as a tour guide but could not shake the dream of acting. He quit and gave himself two years.
He auditioned everywhere and was rejected countless times. At 26 he landed his debut film "Song Lang," playing a debt collector — and won Best Actor at Vietnam's Golden Kite Awards on his first try.
He once shared: starting late is not the problem; the question is how long you can keep going.
No Mandarin? He drilled it anyway
For the role, Lien Binh Phat — who spoke no Mandarin — spent two months in intensive oral training. He also shadowed surgeons to learn suturing techniques, determined to make every scene look real.
Judges said he rendered the character's inner conflict and will to survive with remarkable subtlety.
Half his prize money went to migrant worker groups
The night he won, Lien Binh Phat announced he would split his prize money in two: half to foundations supporting migrant workers in Taiwan, half shared with the cast and crew.
He said the honor belongs not just to him but to everyone fighting far from home.
Taiwan gave him a stage
Lien Binh Phat's journey reads like a modern parable: a dreamer from abroad who found his spotlight on this island. And he chose to pay it forward — sharing the applause with those still waiting to be seen.
