Cat Tuong Nguyen was born in 1969 in Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam. When fleeing from the communist troops in 1975, he and his siblings lost their parents, who went to France, trying their best to get their children back. The family was finally reunited in Switzerland  in 1981.

Cat Tuong  went to high school and University in Berne, Switzerland, where he studied Psychology and Philosophy. In 1993 he went on to study photography in Zurich at the Schule für Gestaltung, from where he graduated in 1998. Working as a photographer and free artist, he exhibited mainly in Switzerland and Europe. His work often focuses on social-biographical and historical issues using different kind of media and materials. Cat Tuong has spent time in Paris and Berlin in artist residency programs. He also teaches photography at the University of the Arts in Zurich, where he lives and works.