Ngoc Lan Tran () is a fictional character that appears in the 2017 American film Downsizing and is played by actress Hong Chau. In the satire film, Tran is a supporting character and a Vietnamese political dissident who is jailed and "downsized" (shrunken to five inches, or 12.7 cm, tall) by her country. In the process of escaping her country, she loses her left leg below the knee. The film was directed by Alexander Payne, who wrote the screenplay with Jim Taylor. Chau's performance was widely recognized as a standout. Some critics complained that the role was an Asian caricature with the performance involving a heavy Vietnamese accent and broken English. Chau defended the portrayal and considered her character to be more layered. For her performance, she was nominated for several awards for Best Supporting Actress. Fictional appearance In Downsizing, Ngoc Lan Tran is a Vietnamese political dissident who is jailed by her government and is "downsized" to a height of five inches. She and others attempt to smuggle themselves into the United States in a television box, but she becomes the sole survivor of the effort, losing her left leg below the knee. She becomes a house cleaner in Leisureland, and the film's protagonist Paul Safrânek notices her and tries to help her with her prosthetic leg. Casting and preparation Hong Chau read that director Alexander Payne was developing a sci-fi satire, and since she had seen all of the director's films, she asked her manager for a copy of the script before knowing there was an Asian female role in the film. Chau submitted an audition tape, which the director received. They both met to discuss the role, and while the filmmakers conducted an international casting search, they ultimately cast Chau. Chau, who is of Vietnamese descent but grew up in the United States, worked on her character's accent by drawing from her personal experience with family members having been first-generation immigrants in the country. Chau said there was a dearth of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American roles, particularly one with her character's refugee background that reflected her family's. She described the role, "Here's this character we normally see in the background and they're not given very much attention in both movies and in life." Chau described her character as "part dictator, part Mother Teresa and part Charlie Chaplin". She modeled her character after the writer Flannery O'Connor and the