Haing S. Ngor was an actor, director, and author from Cambodia. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning performance in the 1984 film The Killing Fields. Ngor was born in Samrong Yong, Cambodia in 1940 and fled to the United States in 1980 after the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. He was the first Asian actor to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Ngor was also a humanitarian and philanthropist, and he wrote several books about his experiences during the Cambodian genocide. He died in 1996 at the age of 55.