How ‘The Sympathizer’ Star Hoa Xuande Transformed Himself to Play a Vietnamese Double Agent

Even toward the end of The Sympathizer’s six-month shoot, Hoa Xuande would still sometimes look out over the set in disbelief and think, “Am I really sitting here? Are they really letting me do this?”

“This” would be toplining HBO and A24’s limited series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a communist North Vietnamese agent (known only as The Captain) embedded on the American-backed South Vietnamese side. It’s a dream role for any actor who relishes a challenge — multilayered, multilingual, packed with drama, comedy, sex and action — on a project with an impeccable pedigree. The seven-part series not only co-stars Robert Downey Jr. (who also executive produces) and Sandra Oh but counts legendary director Park Chan-wook as co-showrunner.

“This show was going to work or not based on this piece of casting,” says executive producer Susan Downey. “Finding The Captain was the most exhaustive and sweeping search I’ve ever been a part of.” The requirements for the part included fluency in Vietnamese and English, the ability to play guitar, possession of a driver’s license and being “charming and intelligent but with a veiled dark side,” as co-showrunner Don McKellar puts it.

The exec producers say that Xuande’s tape came in early and impressed them immediately, but the 36-year-old actor still was subject to an eight-month audition process that included flying to Korea (to meet with Park) and to Los Angeles from his home in Australia.

“By the time we were at his final screen test,” adds Susan Downey, “he had refined his portrayal — making it clear that he possessed the complexity, nuance, discipline and overall acting prowess required to lead our show.”

Yet Xuande never dared to imagine playing such a meaty part, much less embodying a leading man, when he began his career about a decade ago. “My hopes were just to try and be the token Asian on TV. If I could at least do that, I felt like I could make a career,” says the actor of best-case prospects for performers of Asian descent in Australia. In fact, he adopted the stage name “Xuande” (pronounced “shawn-day”) — adapted from his middle name, Xuan — out of concern that using his real surname, Nguyen, would further limit his opportunities. “I tried to give myself a name that would be ambiguous enough so that I could at least fit into other Asian roles, not just Vietnamese roles.”

Xuande made a few pit stops before embarking on an acting career. Born in Sydney to Vietnamese immigrant parents, he grew up in Melbourne playing sports — Australian rules football, track, swimming — then moved back to Sydney at 18 on his own and “just fucked around for a little bit,” earning a diploma in journalism and taking odd jobs working in bars and selling credit cards and telecommunication products door-to-door. It was at a bar gig that he began getting to know actors and other creatives, eventually trying his own hand at amateur theater. A director told him that he was gifted in acting but advised him to seek training if he wanted to get serious about the craft. So a decade ago, he applied to and was accepted by the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

“That’s the acting school you go to to become Cate Blanchett,” explains Ronny Chieng, whose Australian comedy series Ronny Chieng: International Student was Xuande’s first job, as a series regular, after graduating from the academy. “I didn’t know how green he was,” continues Chieng, “because on set he was professional, cheery and he really popped onscreen. When he told me he was in the final round for The Sympathizer, I knew this would vindicate so much. Thank you, Buddha, for casting him in this!”

To prepare for the role, Xuande dove deep into researching war accounts from the perspectives of the Vietnamese people who had lived through it, like his parents, who were on the professional track before fleeing the country in the early ’80s and opening a bakery in Australia. He also underwent a two-week language intensive. “Growing up as a kid, I was ashamed of being Vietnamese, so I have a grasp of the language, but probably not to the ability that I would have if I had just embraced it.”

During the shoot — with four months in L.A. and two months in Thailand (posing as Vietnam because of The Sympathizer’s politically controversial content) — Xuande admits to being stressed and overwhelmed, both by the heavy content of the story and by his responsibility on the production. “I shot pretty much every day and had like one and a half days off, and a lot of the time I was just thinking, ‘I’m in way over my head on this,’ ” he says.

Oh approached McKellar early during the shoot, concerned about the well-being of their newcomer leading man. “It was an incredibly taxing shoot,” McKellar says. “By the end, when we were shooting in Thailand, I could see the toll it had taken on his body and spirit. He floated through the reeducation camp set like a wandering ghost. This may have been intentional because it was perfect for where he was in the story. But I remember thinking that if the shoot was one week longer, we would have a real ghost on our hands.”

Recalls Oh, “I felt hyperaware of the demands that he was about to go into, so where I felt that I could step in, I was asking, ‘How are you doing? Are you sleeping? Can we get you food?’ Skill-wise, emotion-wise, stamina-wise, it was a very big pool to be thrown in initially. But he’s a person who was totally ready and very, very open as an actor.”

Xuande credits his veteran scene partners for their indispensable support. “Sandra really mothered me, and Robert really fathered me. Sandra would speak up on my behalf sometimes, and Robert would do really nice things that I never thought he would do, like never moving on from a take until I was happy,” he says.

And Robert Downey Jr. says he’s down for more. “First, he’s a fun hang, and no matter how much was on his plate prep-wise, we always found a way to make space for a laugh together,” he says. “Over the course of what was a very complicated and taxing shoot, I witnessed his quiet confidence blossom. Can’t wait to see what he does next, and I’m already thinking of another project for us.” 

This story first appeared in the April 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.