Summary

• Robert Downey Jr. plays four characters in the satirical spy thriller, The Sympathizer, alongside a talented ensemble cast.
• The Captain, played by Hoa Xuande, navigates his new life in the US while interacting with pillars of American society.
• Sandra Oh, Fred Nguyen Khan, and other actors deliver standout performances in supporting roles in the mini-series adaptation.

Robert Downey Jr. plays four separate characters in HBO's The Sympathizer, and the Iron Man star is joined in the cast by some new and familiar faces. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer tells the story of a deep-cover North Korean spy who is forced to continue his mission even after the Viet Cong win the Vietnam War. A compelling spy thriller with a rich vein of blackly comic satire, The Sympathizer has been adapted from Thanh Nguyen's novel by Oldboy director Park Chan-wook and screenwriter Don McKellar.

Sharing the screen with Robert Downey Jr's four characters in The Sympathizer is an ensemble that includes Sandra Oh and a cast of Vietnamese actors including the show's lead, Hoa Xuande, Toan Lee, and Fred Nguyen Khan in supporting roles. As The Captain (Hoa Xuande) navigates his new life in the United States, he interacts with various pillars of the American establishment, from academia to Hollywood to politics. These various fields of American life provide some surprise cameos along the way, bolstering The Sympathizer's terrific cast of characters.

Hoa Xuande as The Captain

Hoa Xuande is an Australian actor of Vietnamese descent, who plays The Sympathizer's protagonist, The Captain. One of Hoa Xuande's early roles was as Walker in Jane Campion's Top of the Lake season 2, opposite The Handmaid's Tale's Elisabeth Moss and Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie. Hoa Xuande also appeared as Elvin in all six episodes of Ronny Chieng: International Student and played Lin in Netflix's short-lived Cowboy Bebop live-action adaptation.

The Sympathizer is Hoa Xuande's first lead role in a miniseries, and The Captain is a role that he can really sink his teeth into as an actor. The son of a Vietnamese mother and French father, The Captain has always struggled to fit in, something that's only exacerbated by his role as a North Vietnamese spy. Arriving in the United States, The Captain's cultural identity crisis is complicated further as the communist spy finds himself struggling to resist the temptations of corporate America.

Robert Downey Jr. as Various

Fresh from winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. plays four different Americans in The Sympathizer. Downey Jr. was a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe between 2008's Iron Man and 2019's Avengers: Endgame. His use of wigs and prosthetics in The Sympathizer draws comparisons with his role in the absurd Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder, which also satirized cinema's obsession with the Vietnam War.

Best known as Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies, RDJ brilliantly subverts his role as the repentant arms dealer turned superhero in The Sympathizer. Playing a CIA agent, Oriental Studies professor, US senator, and Hollywood director, Robert Downey Jr. highlights that these different wings of the American establishment all have the same malevolent face. It's a bravura performance from Robert Downey Jr. that further demonstrates how the actor is taking on some big artistic swings now that he's done playing Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan Downey also serve as producers on The Sympathizer.

Sandra Oh as Ms. Sofia Mori

Sandra Oh is a Canadian-American actress, born in Ontario to South Korean parents. Sandra Oh's breakthrough role was in Sideways alongside Paul Giammatti and Thomas Hayden Church. However, it would be on the hospital drama Grey's Anatomy that Sandra Oh became a household name, appearing in 220 episodes between 2005 and 2014 as Dr. Cristina Yang. Sandra Oh left Grey's Anatomy after season 10 and recently played Eve Polastri in Killing Eve, a contemporary spy thriller by BBC America.

While she's no stranger to the espionage genre, Sandra Oh doesn't play a spy in The Sympathizer. Oh's character, Ms. Sofia Mori is the assistant to one of Robert Downey Jr.'s four characters. Sofia is also the main love interest of The Captain, a relationship that further complicates his mission for the North Vietnamese.

Fred Nguyen Khan as Bon

Fred Nguyen Khan is an actor and stunt performer who has had some uncredited performances as a looter in Darren Aaronofsky's mother! and the bodega owner in Adam Sandler's Murder Mystery. Fred Nguyen Khan's most notable credited performance was as one of the Medics in Kevin Hart's comedy drama Fatherhood. As a stunt performer, Nguyen Khan appeared in the Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendehlson movie To Catch a Killer.

Bon in The Sympathizer, therefore, is Fred Nguyen Khan's biggest role to date. One of The Captain's best friends, Bon fights for the South Vietnamese, adding considerable tension to this decades-old friendship as the events of The Sympathizer play out. Judging by Fred Nguyen Khan's terrific performance as Bon, this should be a breakthrough role for the actor.

Duy Nguyen as Man

Born and raised in Ha Noi, North Vietnam, Duy Nguyen is now based in Montreal, Canada. Predominantly a theater actor, Duy Nguyen's screen career is still in its early stages. Like Fred Nguyen Khan, Duy has had a handful of small roles in TV shows like Transplant and Ghosts. Duy Nguyen plays Man, the Captain's other best friend, in The Sympathizer. Man is a Viet Cong sympathizing dentist with some dark secrets that become a key part of the spy thriller's ongoing story.

Toan Le as The General

Toan Le plays The General, the head of the North Vietnamese secret police, who is forced to live in exile in the USA following the Fall of Saigon. Refusing to give up on his country, The General begins plotting a mission to retake Vietnam, utilizing The Captain and his American contacts. Toan Le plays the character beautifully, as The General becomes increasingly paranoid and unpredictable over the course of The Sympathizer's seven episodes. Toan Le has previously appeared in the Zach Galifinakis movie Visioneers and the 2012 TV Movie Bigfoot, alongside Bruce Davison and The Wire's Andre Rojo.

Vy Le as Lana

Playing The General's daughter is Vy Le, a newcomer for whom The Sympathizer will be a breakthrough role. A potential love interest for The Captain, and a talented singer and actress, The General's daughter is dazzled by all the opportunities that America has to offer. Predictably, this will drive a wedge between her and her family over the course of The Sympathizer's seven episodes.

Alan Trong as Sonny

One of Alan Trong's earliest roles was as Kumaza in James Cameron's Alita: Battle Angel, directed by Robert Rodriguez. Since then, Trong has appeared alongside Chris Pratt as Lt. Tran in The Tomorrow War, and appeared as Chris in the controversial Oscar nominee To Leslie in 2022. In The Sympathizer, Alan Trong plays Sonny, a journalist, whose reporting is a help and hindrance to The Captain's ongoing mission.

The Sympathizer's Supporting Cast Of Characters

A host of actors bolster The Sympathizer's impressive ensemble cast across all seven episodes, including:

• Scott Ly as Hefty Gunner Dao
• Tien Pham as The Petulant Captain
• Tom Dang as Skinny RTO
• Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen as Madame
• Kieu Chinh as The Crapulent Major's Mother
• VyVy Nguyen as The Major's Wife
• Jessica Truong as The Captain's Mother
• Kayli Tran as Communist Spy
• Maxwell Whittington-Cooper as The Idol

The Sympathizer premieres April 14th at 9pm EST on HBO