Tam Nguyen

Tam Nguyen is/was a Vietnamese teenage boy/man who was also the childhood friend and classmate of Thomas Carter. As children, Tam was Thomas's only friend.
== Character Info ==
=== Young Thomas ===
Tam is a pessimistic, short-tempered Vietnamese-British boy who attends the same high school as Thomas. He is the first friend in high school that Thomas ever made. He has the same issues with friends as Thomas; when they met Tam told Thomas he had trouble making friends as well, and in "A Rival Prodigy and Sir Isaac Neutron" when Rosemary Carter mentioned that Tam must have other friends Thomas refutes it, stating "I'm all he's got, and even I avoid him half the time."
He laments his difficult childhood in war-torn Vietnam which includes his father having been in detention camp and his encounter with the Ku Klux Klan while first arriving in Britain. Tam may or may not have PTSD, given he has difficulty getting over such traumatic events and he takes his frustration out on other people, such as Thomas's father George.
He tends to lose his temper at Thomas a lot, (Although Tam often only makes sarcastic comments, similar to Lewis, which Thomas does not notice.), but in his defence Thomas often unnecessarily whines a lot, although Tam does this too. When Thomas simply stated, "I'm not hungry", Tam responds that no one in Vietnam would ever say those words. Also when Tam referred to the British war effort as the "wrong side" of the Vietnam War (even though, ironically, he and his family had fled from Vietnam's brutal Communist regime to escape to England), George Sr. claims he's concerned about Tam calling the Britain's the wrong side, before Tam angrily asserts he was just being polite when clearly he's not.
In S01E15, Tam develops a crush on Libby, a black female student for her affinity in geology; however, when he went to go see an IMAX film with her and tried to put his arm around her neck, she snapped back and rejected his romantic advances. Not wanting to get physically attacked by her, Tam came running back to Thomas.
=== The Sidemen ===
In "The Tam Turbulence", Tam, now in his mid-30s, meets Thomas again after not having contact with him for more than 20 years.
He is revealed to be married and has a son as well as at least one other child.
The reason why he and Thomas haven't spoken in 20 years is because they went to different colleges. Thomas went to grad school in ELIT, while he went to college in Ireland and married Beth.
== Appearance ==
== Trivia ==
* Tam was Thomas's only friend and Thomas notes that he's Tam's only friend as well.
* Tam may be considered a part of the Vietnamese refugee population called "Boat People" since he stated he and his family arrived to U.S in a runaway refugee boat.
* Tam is like a Vietnamese version of Stuart Ingram and Lewis Hutchison in Young Thomas.
** Tam puts up with Thomas like Lewis does.
** Tam is the same age as Stuart and they both share an interest in manga and comics.
** In Young Thomas, Tam's role has slowly decreased.