Kelly Marie Tran graces Oscars in ao dai

Tran appeared at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony on Monday in an ao dai and khan dong (Vietnam’s traditional attires) designed by Thai Nguyen.

Kelly Marie Tran (R) and Director Carlos López Estrada on the Oscars 2022 red carpet on March 27, 2022. Photo courtesy of Thai Nguyen’s Facebook

According to Nguyen, this is the first traditional Vietnamese ao dai to appear on the Oscars red carpet.

“Kelly, thank you for doing this for Vietnamese culture. I’m so grateful for this historic moment with you!” the Vietnamese designer wrote on Facebook.

Tran lent her voice to the first Disney movie ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ featuring a Southeast Asian princess that was released in March 2021.

At the Oscars 2022, the film was nominated for the category of Best Animated Feature, along with other animations like ‘Encanto’ (Oscar-winning), ‘Flee’, ‘Luca’ and ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’.

Kelly Marie Tran (Vietnamese name Tran Loan), 33, began acting in 2011, mostly in short films and television.

She gained global prominence for her role as Rose Tico in the ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ (2017) and ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019).