Harrison Trần’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Harrison Trần. Check out our conversation below.

Harrison, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: When was the last time you felt true joy?
I recently visited my brother, parents, and our dogs back home. Being together with all of us was so joyful, and every time I get to see my family nowadays, I feel like I have so much more clarity and fulfillment in our interactions. Part of it is because I’m maturer, but the other piece is that I’m increasingly drawn to my Vietnamese heritage and want to learn more and come back to my roots. This has, in so many ways, brought me closer to my parents and allowed me to understand them better. So it was super joyful to be with the people that I love most and feel a greater sense of unity and understanding.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Absolutely! I’m a Vietnamese-American actor and I spent the last few years in Los Angeles before deciding to move to New York City. I’m itching to dive deeper into my training as an actor and explore theatre.

I also happen to dabble in the culinary arts, centered around Texas BBQ, since I grew up in Texas, and also Vietnamese cuisine.

These might sound like vastly different things but they’re connected by my love of storytelling and my desire to help others by nourishing inner feelings – “feed your feelings”, essentially.

What this means, in a practical sense, is two things. As an actor, I enjoy finding and dancing in the seam of emotions that makes stories relatable. As for the cooking content that I create, I like to pair beautiful shots of dishes being created, usually of Vietnamese origin, with a story or narrative that I hope brings joy and fulfillment to viewers, or at the very least encourages those unfamiliar with the dish to try it.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
From when I was 5 years old until I was 21, my dream was to make the US Olympic Swim Team. I was very hard on myself and believed that grit and perseverance was the only way to succeed. While these are absolutely necessary to succeed, to me, they are not enough alone.

After I retired from swimming, following my college career and competing at Olympic Trials, it took some time but I finally realized my true calling in acting.

As an artist and an emotional athlete, having grace for others is so important in order to empathize, but I think the same is true for ourselves, even for non-artists.

People sometimes say to be kind to yourself – I like to think of it as being your own best friend. I’ve come to truly believe that, though I still struggle with it. It’s not enough to grit your teeth and pound the pavement all the time – rest is absolutely vital and not something that should be skipped.

In many ways, learning to give myself grace has taught me to do the same for others as well. It’s my goal to lift up others whenever I have the capacity to do so.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
The defining wounds of my life are not actually my own. These are the wounds that my parents and all of the Vietnamese diaspora have inflicted upon ourselves, as a reaction to tumultuous external forces, which came to a head during the war in the second half of the 20th century.

As a people, this had a major impact on every generation to come in many negative ways, but I think it also gave us a lot of strength to lean on. I like to think of our people as being like Mandalorians in Star Wars, which is undeniably cool.

In terms of healing these wounds, it began when I started to learn more about my own culture through the lens of our cuisine; however, I only truly began to make big strides once I visited Vietnam for the first time in 2023 with my dad.

It was only his second time back. I was so grateful that I could hold conversations with people there, thanks to the way my parents raised me – it allowed me to connect more deeply with and understand the nuances of my interactions.

Ultimately, though, this trip helped me understand and empathize with what my parents went through – something that I never truly made an effort to do as a child. Like all relationships, I think that being selfless and empathetic is the only way to build bridges, and I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to keep strengthening my relationship with my parents and the worldwide Vietnamese community.

I am so proud to be Vietnamese, in addition to being American, Texan, an ex-swimmer, and a home cook (don’t call me a chef!) and I want to exemplify the greatness of every piece of that identity.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I love this question because it’s a free pass to geek out on some of my favorite characters! Spiderman, Superman, Naruto, and Jesus are all people that I admire and look up to. They all possess an innate drive to do good and do things the right way for no other reason than because it’s the right way to do them.

Even though I suck at it often times, I believe that I have a responsibility to live my life the same way, partly but not solely because of the gifts, wonderful people, and amazing experiences that I’ve been fortunate to enjoy in my life.

These guys all have the ability to block out the noise and push onward in the storm of life that entices them to just take the easy way out… but they don’t. There’s an everyman quality that I personally relate to. I’m not as good as them but I will always try to be.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
I would still have everything I value most, which are the relationships and people in my life. These have nothing to do with my name, any titles I might be attached to, or anything I own.

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