Tina Nguyen

Producer

Biography

Tina Nguyen is the VP of HBO Documentary Programming where she commissions and oversees documentary features and series. Her career began as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. She later switched to documentaries producing specials and series for PBS, Discovery and National Geographic, then launched and showran lifestyle franchises for Food Network and HGTV, and later joined Travel Channel an executive producer. Before joining HBO, she was Head of Production at Vox Media’s content studio.

Filmography

5.7

Thoughts & Prayers

In a dystopic America, children are taught how to prepare for school shootings through elaborate drills. Yet what are intended as self-defense mechanisms are themselves deeply traumatic for students, parents, educators, and entire communities.

7.0

Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare

The definitive account of Japan’s struggle as it faced a nuclear catastrophe while still reeling from the devastation of an earthquake and tsunami.

6.4

The Lady and the Dale

This documentary series explores an audacious 1970s auto scam centered around mysterious transgender entrepreneur Elizabeth Carmichael, who rose to prominence when she released the Dale, a fuel-efficient three-wheeled vehicle during the 1970s gas crisis.

6.6

The Anarchists

Unfolding over six years, what begins as an impulsive one-off gathering turns into an ever-growing annual event attracting sponsorship from crypto-currency companies and featuring capitalist statist speakers such as Ron Paul and BitCoin investor Roger Ver. And when rule-avoidant "freedom" activists come together in one of the most dangerous cities in the world, incoherent ideology and cognitive dissonance rears its ugly head.

5.7

Critical Incident: Death at the Border

Revisits the 2010 death of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who died while in custody at the border. When eye-witness video emerges, it sparks a far-reaching investigation from a border checkpoint to Washington D.C. CRITICAL INCIDENT chronicles journalists’, lawyers’, and family members’ efforts to explore the Border Patrol’s involvement in the incident, ultimately pointing to cover-ups, and uncovering the existence of a little-known unit inside the agency that had been involved in other border related incident.

7.2

Chimp Crazy

Former nurse-turned-exotic animal broker Tonia Haddix, who refers to herself as the “Dolly Parton of chimps”, spends her days caring for animals in captivity. However, her limitless love for one chimpanzee in particular spins into a wild cat-and-mouse game with authorities and an animal rights group.

7.0

Telemarketers

This docuseries chronicles the darkly comedic, unexpected 20-year journey of two unlikely office buddies, who stumble upon the murky truth behind the work they’ve been doing at a seedy New Jersey call center – persuading people to give money to charities – and vow to expose the crooked American telemarketing industry from within.

6.8

God Save Texas

Returning to their hometowns, Texas filmmakers Richard Linklater, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa chronicle the complex history of each city, while examining the toll that the prison system, oil business, and border laws have on those communities.

6.7

Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York

In the early 1990s, with homophobia and hate crimes on the rise as the AIDS crisis worsens, a serial killer preys upon gay men in New York City, infiltrating queer nightlife to find his victims.

7.0

The Mortician

A trusted family-owned funeral home hides behind a façade of decency and propriety to take advantage of loved ones at their most vulnerable moments.

6.3

The Invisible Pilot

The tale of a charismatic, daredevil husband and father who unexpectedly jumped off a bridge in 1977, despite a seemingly happy home life and a lucrative career as a pilot. His small-town Arkansas community searches for his body in vain while family and friends seek answers. Years later, a mysterious story emerges involving hypnosis, secret identities and a double life of dangerous missions and law-breaking. And that’s just the beginning…

9.2

Stax: Soulsville USA

The story of an underdog, interracial record label that ushered in groundbreaking music.

7.1

Phoenix Rising

Actress and activist Evan Rachel Wood takes her experience as a survivor of domestic violence and pursues justice, heals generational wounds, and reclaims her story. Almost a decade after escaping a dangerous relationship, Wood co-authors and successfully lobbies for passage of The Phoenix Act, legislation that extends the statute of limitations for domestic violence cases in California.

6.8

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

Explore the rise and fall of the Synanon organization — through the eyes of the members who lived it — from its early days as a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program to its later descent into what many consider a cult.

6.1

Burden of Proof

When 15-year-old Jennifer Pandos went missing in 1987, her parents told everyone she ran away. Decades later, her brother Stephen begins a relentless odyssey in search of the truth. His investigation into the case threatens to destroy his family as he becomes strongly convinced that his parents are both implicated in the crime. As time passes, more threads unravel and new evidence comes to light, Stephen starts to question everything he has come to believe.

10.0

The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas

Sandra Oh, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Amanda Nguyen, Connie Chung, and beyond: their worlds may be disparate, but they’ve all, in their unique ways, navigated what it means to be Asian in relation to their American identities. While their success has been fraught with racism, they share their stories of losses and wins.

6.6

Navajo Police: Class 57

Follow the officers and recruits of the Navajo Police Department through the rigorous training, the physical challenges, and the self-doubt, delving into their backstories to reveal an overview of life on the reservation and the motivations that drew them to the force. While the turbulent stories of Class 57 unfold in real time, the series provides an ever-widening portrait of the Navajo Nation at large.

6.3

Enigma

Two legends contested their identities as women in the court of public opinion: April Ashley, who was immortalized as a trailblazer by embracing her transgender history; and Amanda Lear, who has consciously denied and obfuscated her history for decades. Their divergent paths reveal disparate but intertwined legacies.

7.1

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived

As Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double in the Harry Potter films, David Holmes' work has been seen worldwide by millions of people. Tragically an on-set accident ended what David calls "the best job in the world," leaving him paralyzed. Like the on-screen character he helped bring to life, David is determined to continue seeking adventure and living life to the fullest despite mounting obstacles.

4.3

Branson

An expansive and intimate 70-year journey, from Branson’s upbringing as the son of a spirited, tough-love mother in Britain, to his pursuits of extreme, personal daredevilry that serve both to grow his businesses’ brands and feed his insatiable, lifelong thirst for high-stakes adventure.