Ivan Doan

Ivan Vanovich Doan (born March 5, 1986) is a Ukrainian Vietnamese actor, filmmaker and composer. Doan began his professional career in 2007 and is known for his roles in "How I Fought Bravely the Thirst for Knowledge and What Happened Then"(2008), "Overturn" (2011), "Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior" (2012), "Pilgrims" (2016), "The Magnitsky Act. Behind the Scenes" (2016).

Personal life

Doan was born in Kiev, Ukraine to a Ukrainian mother of German and Polish descent and a Vietnamese father. He is the oldest of four sons. He has practiced Chinese and Vietnamese martial arts since he was 7 years old and has won a number of national competitions. He has also written music since childhood and often composes scores for his films. After he graduated from high school in 2003, he successfully auditioned for and got accepted to the acting program of Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University, the country's premier acting school. Upon graduation, with honors, in 2007, he was invited to work in Moscow by the legendary theater director Roman Viktyuk, in whose theater he acted in Salome and the Venetian Woman. Viktyuk characterizes Doan as, "Truly talented guy, very rare acting mechanism".

Doan speaks fluent English, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

In 2008 he participated in the first season of the Tae Bo instruction reality series "Fit-bo" produced by the Russian cable channel JV.

At different times he used the stage names John Deryl and John Doan, but as of early 2017, he is working under his original name again.

Career

He made his film debut in the 28-minute dystophian fantasy film "How I Fought Bravely the Thirst for Knowledge and What Happened Then" playing Him, the male lead. The film had its premiere at Avantgarde Festival 2008, in Schiphorst, Germany. The same year he played the supporting role of Seva in the drama "Open-eyr", opposite Valeriya Gai Germanika.

In 2010-2011 he wrote, directed and starred as young American, Christopher Gabriel in "Overturn", a popular English-language fantasy web-series. He also composed the series' score. A reviewer from Examier.com wrote, "Jam packed with exquisite style". In 2012 he made a feature film version of the project under the title of "Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior." Some of the footage from the original series was also used in the film. The film was released in 2013 through BitTorrent Bundle, becoming the first project of its kind on the platform. OneFilmFan.com on Ivan's performance, "Doan just has that innate ability to provide a lead character whose “real” enough to believe the unsettling, then understood, adventure he is on".

In 2013 he performed voice over for the majority of American characters in the high-profile Russian WWII TV miniseries "Bomba" (aka the Bomb), who were played by Russian and Ukrainian actors, demonstrating his vocal versatility.

In 2016 Doan played the role of the American lawyer Jamison Firestone in the political docudrama "The Magnitsky Act. Behind the Scenes", directed by acclaimed Andrei Nekrasov. The film premiered at Moscow International Film Festival 2016 and won a Special Commendation Award at Prix Europa 2016. The same year he directed and performed the lead role of Poet in the short "Pigrims", based on the poem by Joseph Brodsky. Ivan made his own translation of the poem. The score for the film was provided by the American musician Moby. "A tense and erratic visual poem" according to GoodShortFilms.it

As of March 2017, Doan has started the post-production of his docufiction short film "Life Goes On in Paris" in Paris, France.

Filmography

Year

Title

Role

Notes

2017

Life Goes On in Paris

Him

post-production

2016

Pilgrims

Poet

The Magnitsky Act. Behind the Scenes

Jamison Firestone

Touching Quietude

Tai Chi Master

2015

Generation Maidan: A Year of Revolution & War

Narrator

2014

The History of Chriminalistics

Sydney

2013

Bomba

Joe Trager, various character

voice

So Good to Be Home!

co-director

2012

Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior

Christopher Gabriel

2011

Overturn

Christopher Gabriel

2009

Guest

Guest

2009

Dom na Ozyornoy

Barman Vladimir

Episode: 3

2008

Open-eyr

Seva

Tarif Novogodniy

Conservatory Student

uncredited

How I Fought Bravely the Thirst for Knowledge and What Happened Then

Him

References

  1. OneFilmFan.com; Fernwood, Kirk. "Short Film Review 'Pilgrims'".
  2. GoodShortFilms.it; Zoppo, Alessandro. "Pilgrims".
  3. TheArtBlog.org; Lieberman, Michael. "Pilgrims and refugees".
  4. OneFilmFan.com; Fernwood, Kirk. "Indie Film Review 'Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior'".
  5. RottenTomatoes.com Overturn: Awakening of the Warrior (2012)
  6. RevolutionSF.com; Crowe Joe "Overturn".
  7. BitTorrent Blog. "Friday Download: Overturn".

Ivan Doan at the Internet Movie Database