Haing S. Ngor was a native of Cambodia, and before the war was a physician (obstetrics) and medical officer in the Cambodian army. He became a captive of the Khmer Rouge during the and was imprisoned and tortured; in order to escape execution he denied being a doctor or having an education. He moved to the U.S. as a refugee in 1980, and though he had no formal acting experience, he was chosen to portray photographer Dith Pran in The Killing Fields and won an Academy Award. He went on to a modestly distinguished acting career, while continuing to work with human rights organizations in Cambodia on improving the conditions in resettlement camps, as well as attempting to bring the perpetrators of the Cambodian massacre to justice. On 25 February 1996, Ngor was found shot to death in the garage of his apartment building in Los Angeles. Relatives and friends speculated that the killing was revenge for his opposition to the Khmer Rouge.
He lost half his right little finger to the Khmer Rouge. He was the first non-professional since Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives to win an Academy award. He was probably shot during the robbery for resisting giving up a cherished gold watch and chain bearing the picture of his wife, whom Khmer Rouge soldiers allowed to die in childbirth in 1975. Was not interested at first in the role of Dith Pran but after interviews with the filmmakers he changed his mind, remembering that he promised his late wife to tell Cambodia's story to the world. Was the third Asian actor to win an Oscar. The first was Yul Brynner, of Mongolian descent, and the second Miyoshi Umeki, of Japanese descent. 14 April 2004 - Courts overturned the 1998 conviction of the Oriental Lazy Boyz threesome who were jailed for the murder of Ngor. The court ruled that the original prosecutor had unfairly played on the jury sympathy in obtaining the conviction. 7 July 2005 - A US federal appeals court reinstated the 1998 convictions, rejecting claims of misconduct on the part of the original prosecutor.