Tep Rindaro

Tep Rindaro
Native name	ទេព រិនដារ៉ូ
Born	1963 (age 53–54) Samrong, Battambang province, Cambodia
Years active	1987 - present
Website	www.facebook.com/Rindaro.Tep

Tep Rindaro (Khmer: ទេព រិនដារ៉ូ),(born in 1963 in Samrong, Battambang province, Cambodia) is a Cambodian actor and singer, who started acting in 1987. With his career spanning more than two decades, he is one of the longest starring actors in Cambodia since the fall of Khmer Rouge.

Tep Rindaro was born in the village of Samrong, Battambang province, in western Cambodia and developed a passion for films at an early age. As a little boy, he went to the movies a lot and always dreamed of one day appearing on the big screen. Life was peaceful and tranquil in Samrong, relatively speaking, until the Cambodian civil war intensified, affecting evem tranquil Samrong. In 1975 the country finally fell to the communists and the nation was plunged into turmoil and chaos. The country's movie industry dissolved overnight and life drastically and irreversibly changed for everyone. At age twelve the young boy was sent to a work camp to do hard labor for the next three and a half years. Somehow, Rindaro managed to survive this terrible period though tragically, his father and several other family members did not survive the khmer rouge era. Afterward, Though he still dreamed of becoming an actor, he wanted to honor his father's wishes for him to be a doctor, a prestigious position in Cambodian society. Rindaro chose to study something more practical and decided instead to become an air plane mechanic. In 1981 he received a government scholarship to study in Russia as an airplane mechanic, though he never lost his dream of stardom. He worked as a mechanic mainly out of respect for, and in order to honor his now deceased father's wishes. In 1984, he returned to Cambodia from Russia with flying qualifications. Since there were no employment opportunities available at the Pochentong airport of Cambodia, now Phnom Penh International Airport, Rindaro decided to leave for Vietnam and work at Ho Chi Minh's airport for three years.

Upon returning home from Ho Chi Minh City in 1987, he was stopped by another driver who was an owner of film production company. He knew Rindaro from Battambang province. Because his look was similar to a certain Cambodian actor who was famous at that time, he was offered a role in a film "Secret Tears in the Quiet Purple Night". With no acting training, his ability to act naturally came merely from other films he watched and his own imagination. Although he had been promised to, Rindaro in fact never got paid for his acting in his first film. The film did not end up successful, but Rindaro gathered attention of other producers. He was later offered roles in other films such as Bopha Phnom Penh by Fai Sam Ang or Ark Kambang Kech Sanyar. In later films, he for the first time met actress Ampor Tevi, who then became his most common acting partner for more than decade. During the early 90's, he starred in more than ten movies per year. In 1994, he was cast in Peasants in Distress, a drama film written and directed by the ruling king Norodom Sihanouk. As one of the most famous Cambodian celebrities of that time, Tep Rindaro with some other local celebrities attended a tour to the United States of America, which has a large community of Cambodians who fled during the Khmer Rouge era.

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Wikipedia