Anh Do is one of the most multifaceted and beloved figures in contemporary Australian public life. A Vietnamese-born comedian, author, actor, painter, and television host, he has spent more than two decades making Australians laugh, think, and occasionally weep with the stories he tells, beginning with his own. His autobiography The Happiest Refugee (2010), which recounts how his family fled post-war Vietnam on a perilously overcrowded fishing boat and rebuilt their lives in suburban Sydney, won the Australian Book of the Year Award in 2011 and became one of the best-selling Australian memoirs of the modern era. His subsequent career has proved that the boat was only the beginning: he has since become one of Australia’s most prolific children’s authors, a winner of the Archibald Prize People’s Choice Award, and the host of the ABC’s celebrated portrait interview program Anh’s Brush with Fame.
Profile
| Full Name | Anh Do |
| Date of Birth | 2 June 1977 |
| Age | 48 |
| Birthplace | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
| Nationality | Australian (Vietnamese-born) |
| Occupation | Comedian, Author, Actor, Painter, Television Host |
| Parents | Tam Do (father); Hien Do (mother) |
| Siblings | Khoa Do (brother, film director) |
| Spouse | Suzanne Do (married; met at university) |
| Children | Three sons and one daughter |
| Residence | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Net Worth | Not publicly verified; estimated in the millions (AUD) based on career breadth |
Early Life
Anh Do was born on 2 June 1977 in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. He was three years old in 1980 when his family made the decision that would define the story of his life: to flee Vietnam by sea, escaping the post-war communist government that had upended the country in the years since 1975.
The journey was one of the most dangerous possible. Anh’s family, including his parents Tam and Hien Do, his brother Khoa, and approximately 40 other Vietnamese refugees, crowded onto a small, leaky fishing boat roughly nine and a half metres long and two metres wide. They crossed the Indian Ocean in desperate and terrifying conditions. During the five-day crossing, the boat was attacked twice by pirates. The first group of pirates stripped the passengers of valuables and stole one of the boat’s two engines. The second group of pirates returned to steal the second engine, which Do’s father had repaired using a piece of rubber cut from a thong (flip-flop), but as they departed, one of the pirates threw a gallon of water onto the boat’s deck, a gesture that Anh later described as keeping all but one of the refugees alive. The survivors were eventually rescued by a German merchant ship and brought to safety.
The family arrived in Australia in 1980 and settled in Yagoona, a suburb in western Sydney, New South Wales. Anh’s mother Hien found work in a clothing factory, sewing to support the family. His father Tam worked multiple jobs and struggled with the disorientation of displacement. The family grew up in circumstances of genuine financial hardship. At 14, Anh started his first entrepreneurial venture, breeding and selling tropical fish, demonstrating the commercial instinct that would characterise his adult career. As a secondary school student he attended St Aloysius’ College, an elite Jesuit school in Milsons Point, Sydney. While studying law at the University of Technology Sydney, he expanded into selling American Indian crafts at markets, eventually growing the business to four stores.
Education
Anh Do attended St Aloysius’ College in Sydney for his secondary education. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he studied a combined Business and Law degree. He met his future wife Suzanne while studying at university. He chose not to practise law after graduation, opting instead for a career in stand-up comedy, a decision that his subsequent career has amply vindicated.
Career
Stand-Up Comedy
Anh Do launched his stand-up comedy career in the late 1990s, quickly making an impression on the Australian circuit with his storytelling-based comedy, which fused genuine pathos with genuine humour, a combination that proved both distinctive and accessible. He won the NSW Triple J Raw Comedy Championship early in his career and went on to claim virtually every Australian comedy award available to him, including Sydney Comedian of the Year. His comedy was rooted in his experience as a Vietnamese refugee in Australia, his family’s extraordinary story, and the absurdities of cross-cultural life, material that resonated with audiences of all backgrounds.
Television
Anh Do became a familiar face on Australian television through guest appearances on shows including Thank God You’re Here, Good News Week, Rove Live, Spicks and Specks, The Footy Show, and Seachange. In 2007 he was runner-up on Dancing with the Stars. In 2012, his travel documentary series Anh Does Vietnam aired, tracing a return journey to the country of his birth. He hosted Made in China with Anh Do and the Anh Does series for Channel 7. His most celebrated television work came with Anh’s Brush with Fame (ABC, 2016–2021), a unique format in which Anh painted a portrait of a prominent Australian while simultaneously conducting an intimate interview. The show was a prime-time ABC success and ran to multiple seasons, making household names of both the subjects and the distinctive, warm-toned portraits. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize three times, and has won the Archibald’s People’s Choice Award.
Acting
As an actor, Anh appeared in several Australian television productions including All Saints, Seachange, and Pizza. He also appeared in the film Footy Legends (2006), which he co-wrote and produced with his brother Khoa Do, who directed it. In 2003, he co-produced the film The Finished People, which received the Margaret Pomeranz endorsement as one of the best Australian films of that year.
Writing
Anh Do’s literary career has been extraordinary in its scale and impact. His autobiography The Happiest Refugee (2010) won the Australian Book of the Year Award, Biography of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year at the 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards, as well as the Indie Book of the Year Award 2011 and the Non-fiction Indie Book of the Year 2011. The book, which tells the story of his family’s refugee journey and life in Australia, became one of the most widely read Australian memoirs of the modern era and is studied in secondary school curricula across the country.
As a children’s author, Anh Do has been even more prolific. His Weir Do! series, about a hilariously unusual family, became a national bestseller, as did his Hot Dog! series, his Ninja Kid series, his WeirDo series, and numerous others. As of 2024, he had 13 children’s book series behind him, comprising 199 books across those series. He also published the picture book The Little Refugee (co-written with his wife Suzanne Do), which deals with the family’s refugee experience for young readers. His children’s books have won or been shortlisted for multiple awards, including the Young Australian Best Book Award for Fiction.
Awards and Nominations
- 2007, Dancing with the Stars (Australia), Runner-up, Nomination
- 2011, Australian Book Industry Awards, Australian Book of the Year, The Happiest Refugee — Won
- 2011, Australian Book Industry Awards, Biography of the Year, The Happiest Refugee — Won
- 2011, Australian Book Industry Awards, Newcomer of the Year, Won
- 2011, Indie Book of the Year Award, Won
- 2011, Non-fiction Indie Book of the Year, Won
- 2012, Mo Awards, Rodney Rude Stand Up Comedian of the Year, Won
- Archibald Prize, People’s Choice Award, Portrait painting, Won
- 2024, Young Australian Best Book Award, Fiction for younger readers, Hot Dog! #10: Beach Time! — Won
Social Media
- Website: anhdo.com / anhdoart.com
- Instagram: active account featuring art, family, and career updates
- Facebook: Anh Do Official Page
Personal Life
Anh Do married Suzanne Do, whom he met while they were both studying at the University of Technology Sydney. Together they have three sons and one daughter. The couple also co-authored the picture book The Little Refugee together. Anh’s mother Hien has remained a beloved figure in his public storytelling; she appeared in the film Better Man, produced by his brother Khoa Do, playing the mother of musician Robbie Williams’s character’s Vietnamese counterpart.
His brother Khoa Do is a celebrated Australian film director. Anh’s deep bond with his family, and with the refugee story that brought them to Australia, remains the emotional bedrock of his public identity. He has spoken extensively in interviews and in his live shows about the philosophy that he credits with sustaining his family through hardship: the insistence, modelled by his parents and the German merchant sailors who rescued them, on finding humanity and generosity in the darkest circumstances.
Net Worth
No verified net worth figure for Anh Do is currently publicly available.
His income streams include book royalties from a vast catalogue of children’s titles and his bestselling memoir, television hosting and production fees, live comedy touring, portrait commissions and art sales, and corporate speaking engagements as an in-demand keynote speaker across Australia.
Selected Works
- The Happiest Refugee (2010), Autobiography; Australian Book of the Year 2011
- The Little Refugee — Picture book (co-written with Suzanne Do)
- Weir Do! series, Children’s fiction (national bestseller)
- Hot Dog! series, Children’s fiction (national bestseller)
- Ninja Kid series, Children’s fiction
- Footy Legends (2006), Film (co-written, produced, acted)
- The Finished People (2003), Film (co-produced)
- Anh Does Vietnam (2012), Television documentary series
- Anh’s Brush with Fame (ABC, 2016–2021), Television series (host)
Conclusion
Anh Do is living proof that the refugee experience, far from being a diminishment, can be a wellspring of extraordinary creative energy, empathy, and public contribution. From a leaky boat in the Indian Ocean to the bestseller lists, the comedy stages, the portrait galleries, and the ABC prime-time schedule, his has been a career of restless, joyful, purposeful achievement. He is, as the title of his most famous book suggests, genuinely one of Australia’s happiest stories.