Phi Nhung was born as Phạm Phi Nhung on April 10, 1972, in Pleiku, Vietnam and was a Vietnamese American singer and actress most popular for her appearances in Thúy Nga and Vân Sơn. She was born to a Vietnamese mother and an American father who served in the Vietnam War. Her primary music genres were dân ca and trữ tình.

Growing up, Phi Nhung’s family was very poor. As such, she only received education up until the 6th grade. In 1982, her mother passed away, and her and her five siblings were sent to live with their grandparents.

Phi Nhung began looking into a career in the entertainment industry after arriving in the US state of Florida in October of 1989, as part of a government effort to bring over children of half American heritage; she was 17 years old at the time. In Florida, she met singer Trizzie Phuong Trinh at a temple event. Trizzie recognized the budding talent in Phi Nhung and encouraged her to fly out to California, and although hesitant, she finalized her decision in 1993, when she moved to Orange County, California.

Despite moving out, Phi Nhung had a rocky first start, as her first appearance on stage had not been successful. Fortunately, another singer -
Hương Lan – encouraged her to continue on. Shortly after, her career skyrocketed after performing a duet with Thai Châu. The success of her popularity led to her debuting a CD.

In 2005, Phi Nhung moved back to Vietnam and began pursuing acting in films and did work as a comedian and an MC. In 2014 and 2015, she was a judge of two different music competition programs.

On September 28, 2021, it was announced that Phi Nhung passed away due to complications due to COVID-19, after being admitted to the hospital with the virus for about a month. As she was a devout Buddhist, a ceremony was held for her in Vietnam. Phi Nhung was married and leaves behind a daughter and a husband who live in the US, as well as many Vietnamese orphan girls she adopted.