đŹ About Maria Tran
đŹ About Maria Tran
Actor | Filmmaker | Educator | Community Arts PractitionerÂ
She is the founder of Phoenix Eye Films, director of the Echo 8 Trilogy and editor for The Indie Rebel.
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Maria Tran is an award-winning Vietnamese-Australian actor, filmmaker, and martial artist whose work spans film, television, theatre, and community-led arts. She is both a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary artistâseamlessly merging her skills across acting, directing, producing, and action choreography to tell genre-bending, culturally resonant stories.
A TEDx speaker (âWe Need to Embrace Conflict,â 2017) and one of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians (2019), Maria is a bold voice in Australian screen storytelling. Her action cinema platform centers representation, empowerment, and social changeâblending fast-paced entertainment with deep social purpose.
She is the founder of Phoenix Eye Films, a female-led production company based in Western Sydney and the U.S., dedicated to creating culturally-driven films with strong community engagement. On screen, her credits include international and local productions such as Fist of the Dragon, Tracer/Truy SĂĄt, Bleeding Steel, and Last King of the Cross (Paramount+). Behind the camera, she is known for the cult action short Hit Girls and her feature directorial debut Echo 8âAustraliaâs first female-led action filmâwhich screened at the Art Gallery of NSW and won awards at the Tokyo Film Awards and World Carnival Singapore.
Beyond the screen, Maria is a dedicated Community and Cultural Development practitioner. She has led over 200 grassroots creative projects across Australia, empowering diverse communities through digital storytelling, performance, and participatory filmmaking. Her solo theatre show Action Starâinspired by her upbringing as a Vietnamese-Australian in Western Sydneyâpremiered at the 2022 OzAsia Festival to critical acclaim.
In 2022, Maria relocated to the United States to expand her international creative practice while continuing to mentor emerging artists from underrepresented backgrounds. A recipient of the Create NSW Western Sydney Arts Fellowship, Maria's evolving body of work bridges DIY filmmaking, genre cinema, and community empowermentâpushing the boundaries of how art can ignite both action and transformation.
Work with Maria Tran
Work with Maria Tran
Based between Western Sydney and Las Vegas, Maria Tran is a transnational artist who works across film, television, theatre, and community arts. Her creative footprint spans Australia, the U.S., and Southeast Asia, where she collaborates with diverse communities, artists, and organisations to bring bold, culturally grounded stories to life.
Whether she's directing a grassroots screen project in Sydney, performing internationally, or leading workshops in Vietnam or Las Vegas, Maria brings a dynamic, cross-cultural lens to every project she touches. Her practice is rooted in adaptability, authenticity, and a belief in the power of storytelling to transcend borders.
Looking to collaborate on a film, community arts initiative, mentorship opportunity, or international partnership? Letâs connect.
Maria Tran: Words in Motion
Maria Tran: Words in Motion
Maria Tran is an occasional writer who uses her Medium platform to reflect on the intersections of action cinema, identity, and grassroots creativity. Her writing explores the behind-the-scenes realities of DIY filmmaking, the fight for gender representation in genre spaces, and the role of culturally driven storytelling in disrupting the status quo. Through candid essays and field notes, Maria also shares her insights on socially engaged art practice, highlighting the power of community-led initiatives to foster connection, resilience, and creative empowerment. Her pieces offer a grounded yet visionary take on what it means to make art with purposeâfrom the soundstage to the street.
2024 :: Story to Screen: Community & Cultural Project
2024 :: Story to Screen: Community & Cultural Project
Story to Screen was a large-scale, independently initiated, and community-led cultural development project spearheaded by Maria Tran across the Western Sydney LGAs of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, and Liverpool. Unprecedented in scale for the region, the project involved Maria designing, coordinating, and training a new cohort of community-based workshop facilitators, who in turn mentored emerging creatives. Across 12 workshops and over 100 participants, the program delivered hands-on training in screenwriting, filmmaking, acting, and fight choreographyâculminating just two months later in the production of a double-feature film, with community members embedded both behind and in front of the camera.
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