Tommy ngo biography

Tommy Ngo's real name is Ngo^ Quang Tu`ng. He was born on February 19 (Pisces for those who believe in the stars), in Da Lat, but moved to Saigon when he was four years old. Tommy came from a large family. He has ten older sisters with Tommy being the youngest boy. His family left Vietnam in 1975 leaving behind one of Tommy's older sister. Before settling in California, the Ngo's family lived in Caldwell, Idaho, for 14 years where Tommy attended Caldwell High School up to his Junior Year. The family then moved to Fullerton, California in 1990 where he graduated from Buena Park High School. Tommy presently resides in Irvine California. According to Tommy, moving to California has opened his world to various opportunities and potentials.

Tommy has never had any training in music except for his early years in high school where he took music classes and he was once a drummer for a band. He recalled, my most memorable time then was playing the drums for Jazz Band at C.H.S. There were hundreds of people at the school concert. When my drum solo came up I remember rocking the house with my drums. Everyone was clapping for me. After the concert, the school principal came up to me and congratulated me on such a fine performance. Little kids from lower grades that played drums came up to me and said they wanted to be just as good as I was. In college, Tommy pursued the field of computer science and completed his junior year before being bitten by the musical bug. When asked about his first pay job as a performer, Tommy said, I sang in a concert I organized with a band that I formed called Shadowbox. I believe I was 16 years old. That night we sold tickets and each band member received $400 dollars.
In1995, through the introduction of Henry Chuc and his wife, Tommy got his first break in show business working as a dancer on one of Trizzie Phuong Trinh's performance of Kho^ng in an Asia Productions video. Not long thereafter, Tommy was invited by Truong

Katana Kitchen owner, Tommy Ngo’s family has been in the restaurant industry for well over 20 years. Born in Southern California and raised in Houston, Ngo ended up on the east coast because of his restaurant work. But he never felt like he would be in the food industry.

After learning different trades and pursuing interests in the beauty and computer industries, Ngo always gravitated back to restaurants at the end of the day. And seeing his uncle’s drive and success became a major inspiration.

Eventually, he decided to take the plunge. “I saw the growth and potential of growing as a person and as a business and what I could provide – and realizing what I could achieve, I dove head in and never stopped to look back.”

Working with his mother, he was able to invest a small part in some of the family’s restaurants. Ngo convinced his brother come aboard with him after graduating and decided to branch out from the family’s restaurants with their own “nimble, fast an modern” spin-off concept, Katana Japanese Fusion.

Expansion was on the horizon, then Ngo’s mother got sick. Battling cancer, her dietary needs changed. Ngo became inspired by her nutritional needs and while his mother is no longer with him physically, she lives on through his work.

“I took that inspiration to create this concept where food and nutrition come together with creativity and modern dietary needs.” His new shop, Katana Kitchen, embodies this idea and is the future of where he wants to take the brand.

“Anything you do can be hard but if you love it and enjoy it, it becomes a creative zone for you.” It’s great to have family in the industry to have each other’s backs

Ngo’s insight on starting a business from scratch: ‘I think the biggest thing for me is just being dedicated to what you like. Learn as much as you can. Get your hands dirty, get involved. Do it because you love it. Don’t chase the money. Chase your dream a

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