🎬 About Maria Tran
🎬 About Maria Tran
Filmmaker | Actor | Educator
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 artist—seamlessly merging her skills across acting, directing, producing, and action choreography to tell genre-bending, culturally resonant stories.
A TEDx speaker (“We Need to Embrace Conflict,” 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 change—blending 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 Sát, 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 8—Australia’s first female-led action film—which 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 Star—inspired by her upbringing as a Vietnamese-Australian in Western Sydney—premiered 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 empowerment—pushing the boundaries of how art can ignite both action and transformation.
Work with Maria Tran
Work with Maria Tran
Maria Tran is an award-winning actor, indie filmmaker, and action specialist with over 15 years of experience across film, events, and live entertainment. She is currently a game show host for Family Feud Live in Las Vegas, where she brings high energy, sharp timing, and crowd-engaging charisma to live audiences.
Maria is the founder of Phoenix Eye Films, where she writes, produces, directs, and stars in bold, micro-budget action projects, including the internationally recognised Echo 8 Trilogy. Her filmmaking practice is rooted in DIY action cinema, physical storytelling, and community-driven production, challenging traditional industry pathways while championing representation on and off screen.
Alongside her creative work, Maria is also an acting teacher at the Actors Academy, mentoring emerging performers with a focus on confidence, movement, and practical performance skills for screen and stage.
Whether she’s hosting, teaching, or making films, Maria is driven by a passion for empowerment, integrity, and fearless storytelling.
Story to Screen: Community & Cultural Project
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 choreography—culminating 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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