"We were told by my mom that we had to go look for Dad, and that he had gone to someplace called 'America', which we interpreted was the city across the river, since it had lights."
Le originally had plans to graduate in June 1993 and pursue a career in science. As a college student, she went to an open casting call in Northern California "because all my friends were doing it for fun" and ended up being cast in the leading role of Oliver Stone's third film Heaven & Earth (1993), set amid the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
Le subsequently appeared in Bugis Street (1995, released in the United States in 1997) and co-starred in the little-seen Dead Man Can't Dance (1997). Le made an appearance in the 1999 film Bastards.
She appeared in Green Dragon in 2001, opposite Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker.
After a long career in the film industry, Le opened up The China Beach Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Venice, Los Angeles in 2002. After 10 years at that location, Hiep closed China Beach and opened Le Cellier, a French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant on the Venice and Marina del Rey border in 2012. "Although it's not easy to find out here, French-Vietnamese food dates back to the 18th century ... This unique cuisine combines the fresh herbs of Vietnamese food with the fine heritage of country French cooking", Le said. As of 2016, she owned the restaurant Le Cellier with Mark Van Gessel and Bernard Louberssac.
On February 23, 2014, Le appeared on the Food Network game show Chopped, competing in the eighteenth-season episode "Beer Here!" She was eliminated in the entrée round.
Le died on December 19, 2017 in Los Angeles from stomach cancer at the age of 46. She was acknowledged in the In Memoriam segment at the 90th Academy Awards.
