Actress who sued Amazon over age IDs herself

amazon.com logo / AP

SEATTLE - An actress who filed an anonymous lawsuit against Amazon.com and its Internet Movie Database for revealing her age identified herself in a federal court filing Friday.

Huong Hoang of Texas, may be better known by her stage name, Junie Hoang. She has appeared in such films as "Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver" and "Hoodrats 2: Hoodrat Warriors."

The actress filed a million-dollar claim against Amazon last fall, saying the company mined her IMDb account to learn her age, 40, and then posted it on her profile — causing her offers for roles to dry up.

The lawsuit caused a frenzy of online speculation over who the actress might be — as well as a bit of soul-searching about ageism in youth-obsessed Hollywood.

Women over 40 make up 24.3 percent of the U.S. population, but a casting analysis by the Screen Actors Guild showed actresses over 40 get just 12.5 percent of roles for television and film. Men of that age are also about a quarter of the population, but nearly equal their ranks in casting.

Last month a federal judge in Seattle ordered the lawsuit dismissed, saying the actress had no grounds to proceed with an anonymous complaint. Hoang refiled it under her real name.

She did not immediately return an email seeking comment, nor did her lawyer immediately return a voice message left after business hours.

A lawyer and a spokeswoman for Amazon also did not immediately return calls.

Hoang's IMDb profile says she got her start in dance at 16, was the salutatorian of her high school class and earned a degree in biomedical science from Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine. It suggests she can play characters ages 26-33.

She played Sandy in "Gingerdead Man 3," a sequel to a 2005 Gary Busey movie in which "an evil yet adorable gingerbread man comes to life with the soul of a convicted killer," according to a description on IMDb.

Other credits include a part as a triage nurse in the television series "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," and as the part of Janet in "My Big Phat Hip Hop Family."

[dman6015]

With THOSE film credits, why was she so concerned about identifying herself. It's not like she's going to get hired anytime soon for an "A-list", "B-list" or even a "D-list" role. Try another profession because this one's not working.

[triciawalsh1]

she's a lousy actress and thats why she's not getting any work plus people in hollywood cant stand her

[randomites]

Junie who?

[involved_indi]

never heard of her

[Nuff__said]

Maybe life would be better for her in her native Vietnam.

I hope the judge throws this out.

What proof do you have that your age "coming out" is the reason you arent getting work??? Have you checked with your agent as to why it has "dried up"? Or looked at your past history?? This doesnt speak well to your "credit" for the future.

You are now on Wikipedia - bravo!

[longtree-2009]

your age is all over the net. there are many sites that provide your age or an age range, your possible relatives, even your last know location and address as well as previous locations. there is no privacy on the net. this is a silly lawsuit on her part. never heard of her until now, never even seen the films she appeared in per this article. she is just out for money. another frivolous lawsuit. just look yourself up on the net at various sites and you will see your age, your address, your possible relatives, even where you went to college, etc.

[venusvegasvada]

Take a step back and looking at personal privacy in the US, I'm glad she's suing them.

Personal privacy got monetized by big corporations where your info is bought and sold. Companies have gotten the laws upside down to the point where it's a persons responsibility to root out every company and tell them not to sell someones info for profit. No personal control. Can anyone tell who has their personal info in a database? Nobody can. That's wrong.

It's a ridiculous situation. I hope she wins.

[Scimajor]

Oh, I remember her now! I saw her name in the credits for "Oreo Cookie Slasher 14".

She played "Person walking by the camera in the background for 3 frames".

Seriously though. It sounds like someone has an ego issue.

[rwsmith29456]

What a crock. Blame Amazon that she turned forty.

[Jaylah54]

With those kind of roles to her "credit", it's no wonder she wanted to remain anonymous.