Khoa Do


Khoa Do, is a film director, screenwriter, professional speaker and philanthropist who received the Young Australian of the Year Award in 2005. The Do family left Vietnam in 1980 and arrived in Sydney as Vietnamese refugees in August 1980. His brother is the comedian Anh Do. Khoa received a scholarship to attend St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point, graduating in 1996 and went on to study Law and Arts at the University of Sydney.

Young Australian of the Year

Do was named the 2005 Young Australian of the Year for his "leadership, compassion, and will to inspire and inform Australians on issues that affect our communities."

Philanthropy

Khoa Do has been active in helping the under-privileged in South-Western Sydney, especially the Vietnamese community. In 2005 he was awarded the Young Vietnamese-Australian of the Year Award for his services in drama and working with youths in Sydney's south-west. A year later, Do commenced voluntary work with disadvantaged kids at Cabramatta's Open Family Youth Social Services Centre. He was asked to teach film-making to these 'at risk' youths and saw no better way to teach them than to go ahead and make a film with them. While at University Do worked as an English teacher and job-seeking-skills volunteer among the youth living in Cabramatta. For his efforts, he was awarded the 2001 Young Citizen of the Year Award and in 2003, he also received a Centenary Medal.

Personal life

While fleeing Saigon by boat with his family in 1980 at the age of 18 months, Khoa narrowly escaped death at the hands of Thai pirates.
Khoa Do's mother, Hien, played the role of Van Nguyen's mother, Kim, in Better Man, a film which he produced.

Film Industry Awards