Chheng Phon

Chheng Phon was born on August 19, 1930, in Kampong Cham. Trained in dramatic arts in Phnom Penh and the Sorbonne in Paris, Chheng Phon was Cambodia's leading theatrical professor. Following the 1975 Khmer Rouge takeover, he survived by concealing his education, posing as an illiterate rice farmer in the countryside.

In 1979, upon the fall of the regime that had exterminated over 90% of Cambodian artists, Chheng Phon was appointed Minister of Information and Culture. He walked across the decimated country finding surviving dancers, shadow puppeteers, and musicians, reopening the Royal University of Fine Arts and reconstituting the Royal Ballet. In 1997, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his heroic restoration of Khmer artistic soul.