Meet Jennifer Lawrence’s make-up artist Hung Vanngo: the Vietnamese former refugee is now every celeb’s go-to for red carpet events, from Selena Gomez to J.Lo, and works with Marc Jacobs and L’Oréal

Dec 18 , 2023

Make-up artist Hung Vanngo has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Photo: @hungvanngo/Instagram

The former refugee almost died escaping Vietnam in the 1980s after his boat capsized, but now he’s on every Hollywood starlet’s speed dial thanks to his talent for painting faces

Hung says he’s had to overcome discrimination from his family for his choice of profession, and on gay dating apps for being Asian, but throws himself into his work where he feels ‘most loved’

You know you’re good at your job as a make-up artist when Jennifer Lawrence calls you a “plastic surgeon” for the looks you’re able to create. In a recent interview with her pal Kylie Jenner in Interview magazine, J Law refuted rumours she’s had work done, instead giving major props to her Vietnamese make-up artist.

“I work with Hung [Vanngo] … and everybody in the last few months since I’ve been working with him is convinced that I had eye surgery. I’m like, ‘I didn’t have eye surgery. I’m doing make-up,’” she explained.

Jennifer Lawrence recently gave a shout-out to her make-up artist, Hung Vanngo. Photo: @hungvanngo/Instagram

And she’s not the only one in love with Hung’s skills. Everyone from Selena Gomez to Gisele Bündchen seems to love this sweet 42-year-old who’s a whizz with colour and contour.

So who exactly is Hung Vanngo, and how did he become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated make up artists?

Hung Vanngo is a refugee from Vietnam

Hung Vanngo is from Vietnam originally. Photo: @hungvanngo/Instagram

That Hung Vanngo made it to the US at all, let alone Hollywood, is something of a miracle. In 1987, following the Vietnam war, his mother made the difficult decision to put three of her youngest children – including Hung – on a tiny migrant boat bound for the US. But the boat capsized and the siblings ended up on the shores of Thailand, almost dying struggling through mudflats, according to an interview Hung did with The Globe and Mail.

Incredibly, the siblings survived and made it to a refugee camp where they remained for three years. It was only when a Canadian charity worker decided to sponsor them that the children finally made it to that country in 1990.

He started out as an artist and hairdresser

Hung Vanngo loved to sketch and paint model’s faces as a teenager. Photo: @hungvanngo/Instagram

Hung told The Globe and Mail that, as a teenager in Canada, he was obsessed with 90s supermodels and spent all his time in the school library filling sketchbooks with drawings of their faces. However, it was only when Hung got his first job as a hairdresser and started playing around with make-up at the salon to practice on clients that the career he was clearly destined for started to emerge.