Born into a family with a tradition of music, the Vietnamese-Australian pianist, whose father is a guitarist and mother is a pianist, started to play piano when she was just one year old. At the age of four, Van Anh attended a special training programme at the Sydney Music Institute, and received a piano diploma at the age of nine. She was invited to perform at the Opera House in Sydney when she was eight years old and was awarded many international music prizes. In 2003, she won a prize for young artists at the Vienna International Pianists’ Summer Festival in Austria.

In 2006, Van Anh was among 35 most outstanding pianists of the world taking part in the International Music Camp 2006 in Sydney.