Born Do Thi Hai Yen in Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam, Yen started her acting career in 1999 at 17 years of age with a minor role in À la verticale de l'été (2000), and then in 2002 in La danse de la cigogne (2002), which took her to the Paris Film Festival in 2003, as the film was nominated for a Grand Prix Award, and had previously won Best Feature Film at the Milan Film Festival that same year.Her break out role came in 2002 when she was cast as the female love interest in Un Américain bien tranquille (2002). She followed that with leading roles in L'histoire de Pao (2006), À Deriva (2009), and Au fil de l'eau (2010). Do Thi Hai Yen's latest work at the time of this writing was in the 2015 production of Mekong Stories (2015)Do Thi Hai Yen is also a Vietnamese ambassador and honor guest for several luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Motorola V8Luxury, and Escada.