Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant is an actress and the director of the acclaimed film From Hollywood to Hanoi. Her most recent film as a director, The General and Me, spans 25 years of her relationship with General Giap, the leader of the North Vietnamese Army and adviser to Ho Chi Minh during the Vietnam War.
Alexandra-Silliphant discusses the discrimination she faced as a young Vietnamese refugee in Virginia, and how her friendship with actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee gave her confidence as a teenager. She also talks about her decades spent filming and interviewing General Giap, which revealed a much more complex and misunderstood person than is widely believed.
Photo by Christopher Ho