At the age of nine in 1979, the Vietnam-born actress and her seven year-old sister were separated from their parents and left their village in central Vietnam as boat people. Their father and older brother had made the trip the year before and their mother stayed behind with her other children. The sisters lived in refugee camps in Hong Kong for three months where they were reunited with their father, then emigrated to California the United States before reuniting with her five other siblings. Her mother finally reunited with the family four years later.
