Best 50 Asian American Filmmakers in the United States
Here is my list of the best 50 Asian American Filmmakers in the United States whose work is worth checking out. In order to qualify, they would have had to make a narrative feature film and are of Asian heritage but make films in the States.
List activity
11K views
• 32 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 people
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983). After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared on the film scene with Pushing Hands (1991), a dramatic-comedy reflecting on generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing Hands". The Wedding Banquet (1993) (aka The Wedding Banquet) was Lee's next film, an exploration of cultural and generational conflicts through a homosexual Taiwanese man who feigns a marriage in order to satisfy the traditional demands of his Taiwanese parents. It garnered Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The third movie in his trilogy of Taiwanese-Culture/Generation films, all of them featuring his patriarch figure Sihung Lung, was Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) (aka Eat Drink Man Woman), which received a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination. Lee followed this with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first Hollywood-mainstream movie. It acquired a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and won Best Adapted Screenplay, for the film's screenwriter and lead actress, Emma Thompson. Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Lee and frequent collaborator James Schamus next filmed The Ice Storm (1997), an adaptation of Rick Moody's novel involving 1970s New England suburbia. The movie acquired the 1997 Best Screenplay at Cannes for screenwriter James Schamus, among other accolades. The Civil War drama Ride with the Devil (1999) soon followed and received critical praise, but it was Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that is considered one of his greatest works, a sprawling period film and martial-arts epic that dealt with love, loyalty and loss. It swept the Oscar nominations, eventually winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released in America. Lee then filmed the comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) - an elegantly and skillfully made film with nice action scenes. Lee has also shot a short film - Chosen (2001) (aka Hire, The Chosen) - and most recently won the 2005 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film based on a short story by Annie Proulx. In 2012 Lee directed Life of Pi which earned 11 Academy Award nominations and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2013 Ang Lee was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious 7 (2015).
Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.
Prior to 2003, Wan and Leigh Whannell had begun writing a script based for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw (2004), and film it to pitch their film to studios. With the help of Charlie Clouser, who had composed the score for the film, and a few stand-in actors, Leigh and James shot the film with relatively no budget. Leigh had decided to star in the film as well.
After the release of the full-length Saw (2004), the film was met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film ended up grossing 55 million dollars in America, and 48 million dollars in other countries, totaling over $103 million worldwide. This was over 100 million dollars profit, over 80 times the production budget. This green-lit the sequel Saw II (2005), and later the rest of the Saw franchise based on the yearly success of the previous installment. Since its inception, Saw (2004) has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time worldwide in unadjusted dollars. In the United States only, Saw (2004) is the second highest grossing horror franchise, behind only the Friday the 13th (1980) films by a margin of $10 million.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Jon is an alumni of the USC School of Cinema-Television. There, he won the Princess Grace Award, the Dore Schary Award presented by the Anti-Defamation league, the Jack Nicholson directing award, and recognized as an honoree for the IFP/West program Project: Involve.
After making his student short, "When the Kids Are Away", Jon was scooped up by the William Morris Agency and attached to several high profile projects.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Taika has been involved in the film industry for several years, initially as an actor, and now focusing on writing and directing.
Two Cars, One Night is Taika's first professional film-making effort and since its completion in 2003 he has finished another short "Tama Tu" about a group of Maori Soldiers in Italy during World War 2. As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He regularly does stand-up gigs in and around the country and in 2004 launched his solo production, "Taika's Incredible Show". In 2005 he staged the sequel, "Taika's Incrediblerer Show". As an actor, Taika has been critically acclaimed for both his Comedic and Dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brother's film "Scarfies".
Taika is also an experienced painter and photographer, having exhibited both mediums in Wellington and Berlin, and a fashion designer. He attended the Sundance Writers Lab with "Choice", a feature loosely based on "Two Cars, One Night".
Taika became a blockbuster director with his film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and received critical acclaim, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, for his film Jojo Rabbit (2019).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Karyn Kusama was born on 21 March 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a director and producer, known for The Invitation (2015), Destroyer (2018) and Yellowjackets (2021). She has been married to Phil Hay since October 2006. They have one child.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Destin Daniel Cretton is an American filmmaker, writer and producer from Haiku, Hawaii. He is known for directing The Glass Castle, I Am Not a Hipster, Short Term 12, Just Mercy and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He is the second Asian-American filmmaker to direct a Marvel film following Ang Lee's Hulk.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Cary Joji Fukunaga is a Japanese-American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer and producer from Oakland, California who is known for directing the James Bond film No Time to Die, Kofi, Beasts of No Nation, Jane Eyre and Sin Nombre. He co-wrote the 2017 film adaptation of the Stephen King book It. He directed several episodes of the television show True Detective.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Ramin Bahrani was born on 20 March 1975 in North Carolina, USA. He is a producer and director, known for 99 Homes (2014), The White Tiger (2021) and Man Push Cart (2005).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Justin Lin is a Taiwanese-American film director whose films have grossed $2 billion worldwide. He is best known for his work on Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious 3-6 and Star Trek Beyond. He is also known for his work on television shows like Community and the second season of True Detective. Lin was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Cypress, California, in Orange County. He attended Cypress High School and University of California, San Diego for two years before transferring to UCLA, where he earned a B.A. in Film & Television and a MFA in Film Directing & Production from the UCLA film school.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Gregg Araki was born on 17 December 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Mysterious Skin (2004), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) and Kaboom (2010).- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Joseph Kahn was born on 12 October 1972. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Bodied (2017), Detention (2011) and Torque (2004).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Michael Goi, ASC, ISC
Michael Goi, ASC, ISC was born and raised in Chicago, where he established himself in the fields of documentaries and commercials. He has directed numerous television shows such as "Avatar: The Last Airbender", "Big Sky,", "The Rookie", "Kung Fu", "The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina", and many others. He wrote and directed the viral feature film sensation "Megan Is Missing" about the subject of internet predators, as well as directing Gary Oldman in the film "MARY". As a cinematographer, he has compiled over 70 narrative credits, including films for cinema and television screens such as "American Horror Story," "Glee," "Salem" and "The Town That Dreaded Sundown." He has received four Emmy nominations for "Glee", "My Name Is Earl" and two seasons of "American Horror Story." He was nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Award for the telefilms "The Fixer" and "Judas" and for the pilot "The New Normal" and the mini-series "American Horror Story: Asylum".
Michael Goi is a past president of the American Society of Cinematographers, served on the Board Of Governors of the ASC, and is the editor of the 10th Edition of the ASC Manual. He is co-chair of numerous committees at the Directors Guild Of America including the Television Diversity Task Force. He was made an Honorary Member of the Indian Society Of Cinematographers (ISC) in 2010 for his efforts to increase international collaboration and communication amongst the world's cinematography organizations. Michael has appeared as a guest speaker at the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, American Film Institute, the University of Southern California, Walt Disney Animation Studios (for whom he demonstrated ice and snow lighting concepts for animators working on the film "Frozen,"), CineGear, IBC and many other international industry events. He is a member of the National Executive Board of the International Cinematographers Guild, the Directors Guild Of America, the Academy Of Television Arts And Sciences and the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. He regularly mentors students for various industry programs. And he built a railroad track around his house with trains that you can ride.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Tze Chun was born in 1980 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Children of Invention (2009), Cold Comes the Night (2013) and Gotham (2014). He has been married to Cara McKenney since 11 June 2011.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Kevin Tancharoen is a filmmaker, writer, producer and choreographer whose Mortal Kombat series revived the live action format for the franchise.
Kevin came to the attention of Warner Bros. with the stealth release of his viral video Mortal Kombat : Rebirth that re-imagined the video game franchise in a gritty, real-world setting. Quickly garnering millions of views in its first 24 hours, Warner Bros. decided to work with someone who could generate that much positive social media attention. Thus, Kevin was hired to direct, co-write and produce Mortal Kombat Legacy for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. This groundbreaking web series is the most-viewed web series in the history of YouTube and set a new bar for digital programming. Kevin also directed and produced the sequel to the Mortal Kombat Legacy digital series that aired on Machinima. His feature directing credits include Glee : The 3D Concert Movie for Fox and Fame for MGM. He is currently directing multiple episodes of Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, 12 Monkeys, Prison Break (Event Series), Iron Fist, Star, Midnight Texas And Legends Of Tomorrow.
Prior to his feature film career, he directed, co-created, and co-executive produced, Twenty Four Seven, executive produced by Ken Mok and Dancelife executive produced by Jennifer Lopez. These, along with his other gig directing the Pussycat Dolls project on The CW, represent just some in a long list of impressive credits that include directing Britney Spears' "Onyx Hotel" tour, choreographing her "Me Against the Music" video, remixing projects for Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Tyrese, making creative contributions to Britney Spears' "Dream Within a Dream Tour" and *NSync's "Pop Odyssey Tour," and even directing Michael Jackson's 45th birthday celebration.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Jay Chandrasekhar was born on 9 April 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Super Troopers (2001), Club Dread (2004) and Beerfest (2006). He has been married to Susan Clarke since 18 September 2005. They have three children.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil obstetrician and gynecologist, and Nelliate C. Shyamalan, a Malayali doctor. His passion for filmmaking began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.
Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense (1999), which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Shyamalan team up again with Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable (2000), released in 2000, which he also wrote and directed.
His major films include the science fiction thriller Signs (2002), the psychological thriller The Village (2004), the fantasy thriller Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013), and the horror films The Visit (2015) and Split (2016).- Writer
- Director
- Actor
"I had a wonderful time working with the innovative, talented director Brian Metcalf. The young man has incredible integrity and vision. He has gained my respect." - Mickey Rourke
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Brian A. Metcalf (WGA, PGA, DGA, VES, ASCAP) is an Asian-American, award-winning writer, director, producer, musician and actor. He has worked with such talent as Academy Award® Nominee Mickey Rourke, Academy Award® Nominee Sean Astin, Golden Globe® Nominee Lou Diamond Phillips, Golden Globe® Nominee Penelope Ann Miller, Primetime Emmy® Nominee John Heard, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Arnold, David Henrie, William Sadler, Mark Pellegrino, Michael Madsen, James Russo, Thomas Ian Nicholas and more. He previously worked as a creative director, writer, photographer, visual effects artist and supervisor on games, DVDs, web, EPKs, music videos, film and documentaries for all the major studios.
Metcalf recently show ran, wrote, directed and acted in the comedy TV series "UNDERDEVELOPED" which was distributed by Amazon Freevee, Tubi, Amazon Prime, Universal's Local Now, Comcast Xfinity and soon Plex. The show was promoted at San Diego Comic Con.
Before that, Brian produced, directed, wrote and acted in the crime thriller/drama "ADVERSE," distributed by Lionsgate. The film opened the prestigious Fantasporto Film Festival and went on to win a number of awards, including a Platinum Remi Award from Worldfest. Variety's Joe Leydon said that "Writer-director Brian A. Metcalf's indie offering boasts some impressive rough stuff and a surprisingly affecting turn by Mickey Rourke." The New York Times listed the film as one of their top 5 action films to watch for stating "The veteran ensemble in Brian A. Metcalf's visceral Los Angeles-set crime thriller supplies plenty of firepower in a bloody revenge narrative that sees Ethan deliciously hammering his enemies with a crowbar."
Before "ADVERSE," Brian made the mockumentary comedy/horror "LIVING AMONG US," distributed by Sony Pictures and Fox International.
Metcalf received a scholarship and was accepted into Sundance Co//ab TV writing classes under the instructions of Angela LaManna and Peter Biegen. He has had 4 of his scripts placed into the permanent core collection at the Margaret Herrick Library by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He lives in Los Angeles.- Director
- Editor
- Writer
A Berkeley-born daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and Vietnamese heritage, Jennifer Phang is a graduate of the MFA Directing program at the American Film Institute.
Her sophomore feature Advantageous won a Jury Prize at Sundance 2015 and was based on her award winning Futurestates short Advantageous (2012) Her award-winning feature film "Half-Life" premiered in 2008 at Sundance and Tokyo International, screened at SXSW, and was distributed by the Sundance Channel.
The film was then nominated for a 2016 Film Independent Spirit Award. Advantageous (2015) was the feature adaptation of Phang's short film by the same name, originally commissioned by ITVS's FutureStates anthology series. Phang is one of six women selected for the 2016 Women at Sundance Fellowship. She was selected for the 2016 Warner Bros. TV Directors' workshop and is being personally mentored by Emmy-winning producer/director Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones.) Additionally Phang is also a recipient of the inaugural San Francisco Film Society Women's Filmmaker Fellowship and Grant.
Jennifer also wrote and directed "Glass Butterfly," a visual effects-intensive narrative music video.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cellin Hiramoto Gluck is a Japanese American director known for Persona Non Grata, Oba The Last Samurai, Sideways - aka Saidoweizu and Lorelei. As an assistant director/production manager he is known for Godzilla, Memoirs of a Geisha, Transformers, Remember the Titans, Contact and Black Rain among others. Born and spending his 'formative years' in Japan and Iran, Cellin graduated from the Canadian Academy in Kobe before attending the Claremont Colleges, graduating from Pitzer College with honors from the Pomona College Theatre Department. Convinced early by his father that archaeology was a hobby best followed by those with time and money, Cellin decided to follow a much more responsible and certain path to success, the Film Business. Using his multi-cultural heritage to its fullest, he has spent the past 28+ years in film production with a particular emphasis on Japan. First advertising agency producer, to commercial director, then moving to films as an assistant director to Ridley Scott, Roger Spottiswoode, Mike Figgis, Sean Cunnigham and Robert Zemeckis among others. Cellin believes his multi-cultural upbringing and his own diverse 'composition' gives Cellin an innate sensibility for things both Eastern and Western. Allowing him to bridge cultures visually, viscerally and artistically as well as emotionally.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Mark Decena is known for Dopamine (2003), Not Without Us (2016) and e2: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious (2006).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Patrick Epino is known for Bitter Melon (2018), Awesome Asian Bad Guys (2014) and Mr. Sadman (2009).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Louis Diamond Phillips is an American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award. Phillips made his Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of The King and I, earning a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam. Phillips' other notable films include Young Guns (1988), Young Guns II (1990), Courage Under Fire (1996), The Big Hit (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Che (2008), and The 33 (2015). In the television series Longmire, he played a main character named Henry Standing Bear. He played New York City Police Lieutenant Gil Arroyo on Prodigal Son on FOX from 2019 to 2021.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jon Moritsugu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and graduated from Brown University in 1987. As a writer and director, he has created 7 features and numerous shorts, music videos, and commercials which have screened at MOMA, the Guggenheim, Whitney, Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Rotterdam, and more. He is a Grammy Nominee, was selected for Oscar consideration, and the New York Times describes his work as ""funny, anarchic, provocative and exhilarating." Moritsugu is married to his wife, leading lady, and creative partner-in-crime Amy Davis.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Nisha Ganatra is a Golden Globe winner and an Emmy nominee for her work as the Director/Producer of "Transparent." Recently she directed THE HIGH NOTE for Working Title and Focus Features, starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Ice Cube, June Diane Raphael, Dakota Johnson, and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Ganatra's previous film LATE NIGHT, starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, premiered at Sundance. It sold to Amazon in a record-breaking deal and garnered the highest streaming numbers of the year.
Her acclaimed debut feature CHUTNEY POPCORN, with Jill Hennessy and Sakina Jaffrey, won audience awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, Newport Film Festival, Outfest Los Angeles, and many more. Her sophomore feature COSMOPOLITAN, starring Carol Kane and Roshan Seth, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
In television, Ganatra directed Liz Sarnoff's pilot, "Highland," and sold a drama project to ABC and a comedy pilot to NBC, with Amy Poehler producing. She was the Co-Executive Producer/Director for "Better Things" with Pamela Adlon and the Co-Executive Producer/Director on "You Me Her." She also created CODE ACADEMY for the ITVS/PBS series "FutureStates." Ganatra has directed episodes of "Girls," "Dear White People," "Future Man," "Mr. Robot," "Shameless," "Married," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Last Man on Earth," "Love," and "Black Monday."- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Chris Chan Lee is a Korean American filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His debut feature film as writer/director was "Yellow" (1997), a coming of age drama/comedy about a group of Asian American teens in Los Angeles. The film features the first performances of John Cho and Jason Tobin. "Yellow" world premiered at the 1997 CAAMFest Film Festival (then called NAATA) and later won the Gold Carp 1st Place Audience Award for Best Feature Film and the Golden Reel Award for Best Independent Feature Film. "Yellow" had a successful limited national theatrical release including a 5-week run in Southern California across 9 screens. The film is considered a milestone in Asian American filmmaking.
Lee spent a year directing English-language prime time television at MediaCorp Studios in Singapore for Channel 5. His season of "Growing Up" went on to garner a Best Drama nomination at the Asian Television Awards. During this period his political thriller screenplay "Revolution of One" was optioned by Wong Kar Wai's Jet Tone Films. He is a 2004 Fellow of the Tribeca Film Festival All Access Program and a two-time Fellow of the Film Independent Fast Track Program.
Lee's second feature film as writer/director was "Undoing" (2006), a noir thriller set in LA's Koreatown. "Undoing" was nominated for Best Feature Film by the Los Angeles Film Festival and had a theatrical release in NYC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
In 2015 Lee edited and produced "Jasmine", directed by Dax Phelan, a dark thriller filmed in Hong Kong. "Jasmine" has won more than 100 awards, including numerous "Best Feature Film" awards plus 9 wins and 9 nominations to Lee for Best Editing.- Director
- Sound Department
- Writer
Sandy Tung is an American independent film director, writer and producer. He was born on Staten Island, New York. He received an MFA in film making from New York University.
Tung was also the first director of Asian American descent to receive the prestigious Directors Guild of America Award for his direction of the CBS Schoolbreak Special, The Day the Senior Class Got Married (1985).- Director
- Producer
- Actress
Accomplished Film Director/Writer/Producer Mira Nair was born in India and educated at Delhi University and at Harvard. She began her film career as an actor and then turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India and India Cabaret. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988; it won the Camera D'Or (for best first feature) and the Prix du Publique (for most popular entry) at the Cannes Film Festival and 25 other international awards. Her next film, Mississippi Masala, an interracial love story set in the American South and Uganda, starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury, won three awards at the Venice Film Festival including Best Screenplay and The Audience Choice Award. Subsequent films include The Perez Family (with Marisa Tomei, Anjelica Huston, Alfred Molina and Chazz Palminteri), about an exiled Cuban family in Miami; and the sensuous Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, which she directed and co-wrote. Nair directed My Own Country based on Dr. Abraham Verghese's best-selling memoir about a young immigrant doctor dealing with the AIDS epidemic. Made in 1998, My Own Country starred Naveen Andrews, Glenne Headly, Marisa Tomei, Swoosie Kurtz, and Hal Holbrook, and was awarded the NAACP award for best fiction feature. Nair returned to the documentary form in August 1999 with The Laughing Club of India, which was awarded The Special Jury Prize in the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels 2000. In the summer of 2000, Nair shot Monsoon Wedding in 30 days, a story of a Punjabi wedding starring Naseeruddin Shah and an ensemble of Indian actors. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival, Monsoon Wedding also won a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and opened worldwide to tremendous critical and commercial acclaim. Nair's next feature was an HBO original film, Hysterical Blindness. Set in working class New Jersey in 1987, the film stars Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands. Thurman and Lewis play single women looking for love in all the wrong places, while Rowlands, who plays Thurman's mother, adds to her daughter's hysteria when she finds Mr. Right in Ben Gazarra. The film received great critical acclaim and the highest ratings for HBO, garnering an audience of 15 million, a Golden Globe for Uma Thurman, and 3 Emmy Awards. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Nair joined a group of 11 renowned filmmakers, each commissioned to direct a film that was 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame long. Nair's film is a retelling of real events in the life of the Hamdani family in Queens, whose eldest son was missing after September 11, and was then accused by the media of being a terrorist. 11.09.01 is the true story of a mother's search for her son who did not return home on that fateful day. In May 2003, Nair helmed the Focus Features production of the Thackeray classic, Vanity Fair, a provocative period tale set in post-colonial England, in which Reese Witherspoon plays the lead, Becky Sharp. The film is scheduled to release in Fall 2004. Nair's upcoming projects include Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul for HBO, and Hari Kunzru's The Impressionist, and there are also plans to take Monsoon Wedding to Broadway. Mirabai Films is establishing an annual filmmaker's laboratory, Maisha, which will be dedicated to the support of visionary screenwriters and directors in East Africa and India. The first lab, which is only for screenwriters, will be launched in August 2005 in Kampala, Uganda.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Desmond Nakano yearned to be a rock musician, he jammed with neighborhood bands while attending North Hollywood High School, and by the time he was an underclassman studying Philosophy and English at UCLA, he had written several rock operas, after a year and a half in college, Nakano left school and moved to the Bay Area to start a band, he later returned to school and began studying film under the tutelage of Hollywood producer Paul Schrader, he began writing motion picture screenplays, one of Nakano's scripts, "Boulevard Nights", soon garnered recognition, and won both the Writers Guild Open Door Award and the Samuel Goldwyn Award, the script would later be optioned by producer Tony Bill, made in 1979, and directed by Michael Pressman.
Nakano followed this initial success with the 1984 dance film "Body Rock", and worked as a writer on the 1986 sci-fi action film "Black Moon Rising", next he was brought on to pen the screenplay adaptation of the Hubert Selby, Jr. novel "Last Exit to Brooklyn", which was released in 1989. He also worked as a writer on the 1992 crime drama, "American Me", which starred and was directed by Edward James Olmos.
Nakano made his directorial debut with 1995's "White Man's Burden" starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte.
In 2007, Nakano co-wrote and directed "American Pastime".- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Albert Pyun was an award-winning US filmmaker best known for his contributions to the science-fiction and action genres. He is credited with pioneering the cyborg sub-genre and is considered to be a maverick and renegade in independent genre cinema. With over 50 titles to his name, he has enjoyed a prolific career spanning 30+ years and has earned himself a fevered cult following.
His first film, The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), was the highest-grossing independent film of 1982, earning $36,714,025 in the US. The film's success led to Pyun being attached to various large sci-fi projects, including Total Recall (1990) (eventually directed by Paul Verhoeven) and he became a much sought-after director by several studios. His follow-up film was the post-apocalyptic sci-fi Radioactive Dreams (1984), which helped launch the careers of Michael Dudikoff and John Stockwell, and cemented Pyun's reputation for being an edgy and creative filmmaker. The 1980s was a highly productive decade for him, with the release of Dangerously Close (1986), Vicious Lips (1986), Down Twisted (1987), Alien from L.A. (1988), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1988), Cyborg (1989) and Deceit (1990).
Pyun's work with Cannon Pictures saw him direct more films for the company than any other filmmaker and his involvement with "Spider-Man" and "Masters of the Universe 2" became legendary. When both films were canceled mid-way into their productions, Pyun devised a breakneck strategy to combine the sets and costume designs from both to salvage the lost money and deliver a single stand-alone film. The result was Cyborg (1989), which opened in 1989 as the fourth highest grossing film in the United States. It grossed $10,166,459 and gave Jean-Claude Van Damme his Hollywood superstar status.
The 1990s proved to be an even more prolific decade, with Pyun directing a further 24 films. Notable throughout those years include Captain America (1990), Nemesis (1992), Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995), Nemesis 3: Time Lapse (1996), Nemesis 4: Death Angel (1996), Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991), Knightriders (1981), Omega Doom (1996), Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996), Hong Kong 97 (1994), Postmortem (1998) and Mean Guns (1997). His work with Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures saw him direct Dollman (1991) and Arcade (1993), both of which continue to hold a strong cult following.
The 2000s marked a new era for Pyun, as he moved away from the independent studio system and began making films much more independently by way of self-funding and outsourcing money personally. This allowed for greater creative freedoms as a filmmaker, despite his budgets being drastically reduced. His new approach to filmmaking has divided audiences, however; those who have followed his career closely agree that his films since 2000 have been far more audacious and personal, none more so than his 2013 film Road to Hell (2008) (shot in 2008). Inspired by Walter Hill's classic Streets of Fire (1984), the film acts as a spiritual sequel and presents the two protagonists in an alternative future. Michael Paré and Deborah Van Valkenburgh reprised their roles of Tom and Reva Cody and their characters are pitted against a vibrant and surreal purgatory landscape. The film has enjoyed a steady run on the festival circuit and is slated for a home-entertainment release. Other notable films from this decade include the stunning one-shot horror film Invasion (2004) (aka "Infection"), the brutal drug trade thriller Bulletface (2010) and the long-awaited Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire (2010), a follow up to "The Sword and the Sorcerer". Investor and distributor interference on this film jeopardized the final theatrical cut and the film is slated, along with several of his other films, for an upcoming director's cut release.
The 2010s have proven to be a difficult time in Pyun's career due to declining health and difficulties getting a major project released. His film Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift was shot, but remains unfinished due to pending post-production issues. An incomplete version of the film was screened for an audience at the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival. His health took a turn for the worst in 2012 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The effect of the illness took an emotional and physical toll on him and in early 2013 he announced his retirement. Following a brief hiatus he concluded that the best remedy was filmmaking and he made a triumphant return with The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper (2014). While he endured medical tests and treatments, the film had an incredibly fast turnaround and was written, shot and completed within a matter of weeks. The story line was a direct follow-up to "Invasion" and continued the one-shot concept. It was entirely filmed over the course of a single day and showcased Pyun's ability to think outside the box, both practically and creatively.
As of 2015 Pyun had attempted to develop various other projects, while maintaining ongoing treatment for his multiple sclerosis. These projects include "Napoleon", "The Kickboxer": "City of Blood" and "Algiers". In maintaining a strong relationship with his fan base Pyun has shared the production details of these projects on his Facebook page and maintains that he is still actively pursuing them. Their further development will depend on his ongoing health. He attributes his relationship with his fans as a driving force in fighting his illness and he has shared his medical journey with them almost every step of the way.
November of 2015 saw the release of a conceptual teaser trailer for a brand-new film titled "Star Warfare Rangers" and the "Cyborg Witch of Endor" (later retitled Interstellar Civil War: Shadows of the Empire (2017)). Having evolved from various attempts to revive his "Cyborg" saga, the film is an original story detailing the search for a missing Cyborg child. The film marked Albert's 33rd collaboration with his long-standing composer Tony Riparetti and boasts an impressive cast including Brad Thornton, Glenn Maynard, Ellie Church, Tommie Vegas, Shane Ryan and Morgan Weisser, among others.
Pyun's career has seen him work with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, many of whom got their first break with him. He has worked with the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sasha Mitchell, Christopher Lambert, Natasha Henstridge, Brion James, Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, Teri Hatcher, Rutger Hauer, Olivier Gruner, Charlie Sheen, Burt Reynolds, Steven Seagal, Rob Lowe, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Sorbo, Tom Sizemore, Andrew Dice Clay, Dennis Hopper, Kevin Gage, Robert Patrick, Seth Green, Dennis Chan, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Ronny Cox, Kris Kristofferson, George Kennedy, Richard Lynch, Lee Horsley, Richard Moll, Courteney Cox, Tom Matthews, Nicholas Guest, Kathy Ireland, Deep Roy, Michel Qissi, Andrew Divoff, David Carradine, Vincent Klyn, Mitch Pileggi, Yuji Okumoto, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Pare and Deborah Van Vulkenburgh. His most frequent actor collaborations have been with Norbert Weisser and Scott Paulin, who have worked alongside Albert in dozens of films spanning several decades.
Albert passed away on November 22, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV, where he lived with his wife and producer, Cynthia Curnan.- Actor
- Producer
- Visual Effects
Phillip Rhee is a master martial artist, actor and filmmaker best known for creating the "BEST of the BEST" film franchise with his producing partner and mentor Peter E. Strauss (Former Chairman of Lions Gate) and Frank Giustra, a Canadian Billionaire and founder of Lions Gate. The first "Best of the Best" starring academy award nominated actors, James Earl Jones, Eric Roberts, Louise Fletcher, Sally Kirkland and Chris Penn was distributed through Sony Pictures. "Best of the Best 2" through 20th Century Fox and "Best of the Best 3", directed and starring Rhee and Gina Gershon was picked up by Miramax, and the fourth installment of "Best of the Best: Without Warning", directed and starring Rhee and Ernie Hudson was also acquired by Miramax/Dimension Films.
2015 AMC Movie Review by Chief Editor John Campea chose "Best of the Best" as his favorite movie of all time.
In 2015, "Best of the Best" was chosen by Fandango's 15 most inspirational sports movies of all time along with "Rocky".
In 2010, Rhee partnered with former President of Warner Bros, Jim Miller and launched "Stereo Pictures" a 3D conversion technology studio based in L.A. and Korea, servicing major Hollywood studios and consumer electronic giants such as Samsung, LG and game developers Blizzard.
Rhee, an avid martial artist holds a 7th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, 3rd degree in Hap Ki Do and Kendo and is one of the most sought after teachers in the world. His former students include the son of President, Ronald Reagan, Chairman of Warner Chappell, former Chairman of Fox, Chairman of ACI and numerous sports and film celebrities.
Rhee speaks three languages and lives with his fashion designer wife, Amy and his son Sean.- Director
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Ryan Shiraki is known for Get Him to the Greek (2010), Poster Boy (2004) and Spring Breakdown (2009).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Wayne Wang is a key figure in the development of independent filmmaking, alternating major Hollywood studio films such as »The Joy Luck Club« with smaller, independent work like »Smoke«. Continuing to work in the two different worlds, Wang directed an independent digital film, »The Center of the World«, with Molly Parker and Peter Sarsgaard, followed by Sony/Revolution's hit comedy »Maid in Manhattan« with Jennifer Lopez. His most recent effort, »Because of Winn-Dixie«, based on the children's novel by Kate DiCamilo, opened in 2005. His latest Hollywood film, »Last Holiday«, with Queen Latifah and Gerard Depardieu, was loosely based on a 1950 J.B. Priestly film of the same name.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Jessica Yu was born in 1966. She is a director and producer, known for Fosse/Verdon (2019), Billions (2016) and Maria Bamford: Old Baby (2017). She is married to Mark Salzman.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
James Boss, eldest of two children, was born in Hollywood, California and raised in Hacienda Heights, California by Korean American parents Sun Kim, and Young W. Kim.
He began martial arts training at the age of 6. Upon graduating high school, he attended The Art Institute of Los Angeles studying graphic design. He later began acting at the Howard Fine Studio, studied under Ivanna Chubbuck, and then relocated to South Korea's Seoul Institute of the Arts to further his study in theater. He co-directed his first play, Liar Reversal to critical acclaim in 2011.
In 2010 he starred and directed in the worldwide release of "White Wall", an action post apocalyptic film set in a dystopian society. In 2012-2017 he went on to write, direct and act in three short films that was nominated and won awards in several established film festivals around the globe. Working between the South Korean and Hollywood film industries, his career has been well noted for his DIY approach in movie's and music video's.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Timothy Linh Bui was born on 13 April 1970 in Saigon, Vietnam. He is a producer and writer, known for Green Dragon (2001), Powder Blue (2009) and Live Fast, Die Laughing.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Chinese American writer/director Eric Byler grew up in California, Virginia, and Hawaii before graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Eric was nominated for a 2003 Independent Spirit Award for his debut feature film Charlotte Sometimes (2002), which also earned nominations for producer Marc Ambrose and actress Jacqueline Kim. Eric's second feature Americanese (2006) was acquired for theatrical release (fall 2007) by IFC Films and won both the Audience Award and the Special Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2006. He directed the short film, My Life... Disoriented (2006), which aired on PBS stations around the country in late 2006 and early 2007. His latest feature film is the "Charlotte Sometimes" sequel Tre (2006), winner of the Special Jury Award at the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Eric has been invited to speak at colleges and universities around the United States, and is known for grassroots activism and YouTube documentaries he created during the 2006 Virginia Senate race on behalf of Senator Jim Webb and Virginia's Asian/Pacific American community.
"Charlotte Sometimes" Awards and Nominations: 2003 Independent Spirit Award nominations: "The John Cassavetes Award," "Best Supporting Actress" Jacqueline Kim Won: "Audience Award for First Films Narrative" at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Won: "Special Jury Award for Narrative Filmmaking" at the Florida Film Festival, and "Best Dramatic Feature" at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.
"Americanese" Awards and Nominations: Won: "Audience Award, Narrative Feature Competition" at the South by Southwest Film Festival Won: "Special Jury Award for Oustanding Ensemble Cast" at the South by Southwest Film Festival Nominated: "Best Actor" Chris Tashima at the Seattle International Film Festival
"Tre" Awards and Nominations Won: Special Jury Award at the San Francisco Int'l Asian American Film Festival Nominated: Best Actress (Kimberly-Rose Wolter) at MethodFest
Kenji's Faith (1994) Awards and Nominations: Student Academy Award nomination for Best Experimental Film. Won: "Best Amateur Entry" at the Canadian International Annual Film Festival, "Best Scenario" at the Canadian International Annual Film Festival, "Gold Plaque Award" at the Chicago International Film Festival, "Judges Award" at the New Orleans International Film Festival, "Director's Choice Award" at the Black Maria Film Festival, "Best of Festival" at the Montreal Underground Film Festival, "Certificate of Regional Achievement" from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Arvin Chen was born on 26 November 1978 in Boston, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Au revoir Taipei (2010), Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (2013) and Mei (2006).- Director
- Writer
- Producer
- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Gregory Hatanaka is a film distributor and producer.
Hatanaka has overseen and/or been affiliated with the distribution of over 200 films including: John Woo's iconic film The Killer starring Chow Yun-Fat; The Coen Brothers' Blood Simple; Until the Night starring Norman Reedus; The Stranger, directed by the legendary Academy Award recipient Satyajit Ray; South of Heaven, West of Hell directed/starring Dwight Yoakam, Vince Vaughn, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, My Favorite Season starring the legendary Catherine Deneuve and directed by Andre Techine; "Blue Juice" starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ewan McGregor; the films of France's Claude Chabrol; the original Fever Pitch starring Colin Firth; Too Tired To Die starring Oscar winner Mira Sorvino; Kiss & Tell with Heather Graham, Rose McGowan and David Arquette; Portraits Chinois starring Helena Bonham-Carter; Bad Manners starring Oscar nominee David Strathairn; A Little Bit of Soul starring Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, The Bridge directed by Gerard Depardieu, La Separation starring Isabelle Huppert, Santosh Sivan's The Terrorist, Abel Ferrara's R'Xmas, and Leni Riefenstahl's classic Olympia. Hatanaka also restored and distributed the martial arts milestone film Master of the Flying Guillotine.
As a filmmaker, his features include Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, the drama Until The Night, the cult thriller Mad Cowgirl and the art/experimental drama Caged Beauty.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where he worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Wong How eventually went into business for himself in Pasco, opening a general store, which he made a success, despite the bigotry of the locals.
When he was five years old, Wong Tung Jim joined his father in the US. His childhood was unhappy due to the discrimination he faced, which manifested itself in racist taunting by the neighborhood children. To get the kids to play with him, Jimmie often resorted to bribing them with candy from his father's store. When Jimmie, as he was known to his friends and later to his co-workers in the movie industry, was about 12 years old he bought a Kodak Brownie camera from a drugstore. Though his father was an old-fashioned Chinese, suspicious about having his picture taken and opposed to his new hobby, Jimmie went ahead and photographed his brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, when the photos were developed, the heads of his siblings had been cut off, as the Brownie lacked a viewfinder.
His childhood dream was to be a prizefighter, and as a teenager he moved to Oregon to fight. However, his interest soon waned, and he moved to Los Angeles, where he got a job as an assistant to a commercial photographer. His duties included making deliveries, but he was fired when he developed some passport photos for a friend in the firm's darkroom. Reduced to making a living as a busboy at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he journeyed down to Chinatown on Sundays to watch movies being shot there.
Jimmie Howe made the acquaintance of a cameraman on one of the location shoots, who suggested he give the movies a try. He got hired by the Jesse Lasky Studios' photography department at the princely sum of $10 per week, but the man in charge thought he was too little to lug equipment around, so he assigned Jimmie custodial work. Thus the future Academy Award-wining cinematographer James Wong Howe's first job in Hollywood was picking up scraps of nitrate stock from the cutting-room floor (more important than it sounds, as nitrate fires in editing rooms were not uncommon). The job allowed him to familiarize himself with movie cameras, lighting equipment and the movie film-development process.
His was a genuine Horatio Alger "Up From His Bootstraps" narrative, as by 1917 he had graduated from editing room assistant to working as a slate boy on Cecil B. DeMille's pictures. The promotion came when DeMille needed all his camera assistants to man multiple cameras on a film. This left no one to hold the chalkboard identifying each scene as a header as the take is shot on film, so Jimmie was drafted and given the title "fourth assistant cameraman. He endeared himself to DeMille when the director and his production crew were unable to get a canary to sing for a close-up. The fourth assistant cameraman lodged a piece of chewing gum in the bird's beak, and as it moved its beak to try to dislodge the gum, it looked like the canary was singing. DeMille promptly gave Jimmie a 50% raise.
In 1919 he was being prepared for his future profession of cameraman. "I held the slate on Male and Female (1919)", he told George C. Pratt in an interview published 60 years later, "and when Mr. DeMille rehearsed a scene, I had to crank a little counter . . . and I would have to grind 16 frames per second. And when he stopped, I would have to give him the footage. He wanted to know how long the scene ran. So besides writing the slate numbers down and keeping a report, I had to turn this crank. That was the beginning of learning how to turn 16 frames".
Because of the problem with early orthochromatic film registering blue eyes on screen, Howe was soon promoted to operating cameraman at Paramount (the new name for the Lasky Studio), where his talents were noted. A long-time photography buff, Jimmie Howe enjoyed taking still pictures and made extra money photographing the stars. One of his clients was professional "sweet young thing" Mary Miles Minter, of the William Desmond Taylor shooting scandal, who praised Jimmie's photographs because they made her pale blue eyes, which did not register well on film, look dark. When she asked him if he could replicate the effect on motion picture film, he told her he could, and she offered him a job as her cameraman.
Howe did not know how he'd made Minter's eyes look dark, but he soon realized that the reflection of a piece of black velvet at the studio that had been tacked up near his still camera had cast a shadow in her eyes, causing them to register darkly. Promoted to Minter's cameraman, he fashioned a frame of black velvet through which the camera's lens could protrude; filming Minter's close-ups with the device darkened her eyes, just as she desired. The studio was abuzz with the news that Minter had acquired a mysterious Chinese cameraman who made her blue eyes register on film. Since other blue-eyed actors had the same problem, they began to demand that Jimmie shoot them, and a cinematography star was born.
Jimmie Howe was soon advanced beyond operating cameraman to lighting cameraman (called "director of photography" in Hollywood) on Minter's Drums of Fate (1923), and he served as director of photography on The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1923) the next year. As a lighting cameraman he was much in demand, and started to freelance. Notable silent pictures on which he served as the director of photography include Paramount's Mantrap (1926), starring "It Girl" Clara Bow, and MGM's Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), starring silent superstar John Gilbert opposite Joan Crawford.
The cinematography on "Mantrap" was his breakthrough as a star lighting cameraman, in which his lighting added enormously to bringing out Clara Bow's sex appeal. He bathed Bow in a soft glow, surrounding the flapper with shimmering natural light, transforming her into a seemingly three-dimensional sex goddess. Even at this early a stage in his career, Howe had developed a solid aesthetic approach to film, based on inventive, expressive lighting. The film solidified his reputation as a master in the careful handling of female subjects, a rep that would get him his last job a half-century later, on Barbra Streisand's Funny Lady (1975).
Jimmie Howe journeyed back to China at the end of the decade to shoot location backgrounds for a movie about China he planned to make as a director. Though the movie was never made, the footage was later used in Josef von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932). When he returned to the US, Hollywood was in the midst of a technological upheaval as sound pictures were finishing off the silent movie, which had matured into a medium of expression now being hailed as "The Seventh Art." The silent film, in a generation, had matured into a set art form with its own techniques of craftsmanship, and pictures like 7th Heaven (1927) and The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929) generally were thought to be examples of the "photoplay" reaching perfection as a medium. This mature medium now was violently overthrown by the revolutionary upstart, Sound. The talkies had arrived.
The Hollywood Howe returned to was in a panic. All the wisdom about making motion pictures had been jettisoned by nervous studio heads, and the new Hollywood dogma held that only cameramen with experience in sound cinematography could shoot the new talking pictures, thus freezing out many cameramen who had recently been seen as master craftsmen in the silent cinema. Director William K. Howard, who was in pre-production with his film Transatlantic (1931), wanted Jimmie Howe's expertise. Having just acquired some new lenses with $700 of his own money, Howe shot some tests for the film, which impressed the studio enough to gave Howard permission to hire Jimmie to shoot it.
Once again, his career thrived and he was much in demand. He earned the sobriquet "Low-Key Howe" for his low-contrast lighting of interiors, exerting aesthetic control over the dark spots of a frame in the way that a great musician "played" the silences between notes. In 1933 he gave up freelancing and started working in-house at MGM, where he won a reputation for efficiency. He shot The Thin Man (1934) in 18 days and Manhattan Melodrama (1934) in 28 days. It was at MGM that he became credited as "James Wong Howe". Howe's original screen credit was "James Howe" or "Jimmie Howe", but during his early years at MGM "Wong" was added to his name by the front office, "for exotic flair", and his salary reached $500 a week. After shooting 15 pictures for MGM, he moved over to Warner Bros. for Algiers (1938), garnering him his first Academy Award nomination. Studio boss Jack L. Warner was so thrilled by Howe's work with Hedy Lamarr that he signed Jimmie to a seven-year contract. James Wong Howe shot 26 movies at Warners through 1947, and four others on loanout to other studios.
A master at the use of shadow, Howe was one of the first DPs to use deep-focus cinematography, photography in which both foreground and distant planes remain in focus. His camerawork typically was unobtrusive, but could be quite spectacular when the narrative called for it. In the context of the studio-bound production of the time, Wong Howe's lighting sense is impressive given his use of location shooting. Citic James Agee called him one of "the few men who use this country for background as it ought to be used in films." Wong Howe used backgrounds to elucidate the psychology of the film's characters and their psychology, such as in Pursued (1947), where the austere desert landscape serves to highlight the tortured psyche of Robert Mitchum's character.
Wong Howe was famed for his innovations, including putting a cameraman with a hand-held camera on roller skates inside a boxing ring for Body and Soul (1947) to draw the audience into the ring. He strapped cameras to the actors' waists in The Brave Bulls (1951) to give a closer and tighter perspective on bullfighting, a sport in which fractions of an inch can mean the difference between life and death. He was hailed for his revolutionary work with tracking and distortion in Seconds (1966), in which he used a 9mm "fish-eye" lens to suggest mental instability.
James Wong Howe became the most famous cameraman in the world in the 1930s, and he bought a Duesenberg, one of the most prestigious and expensive automobiles in the world. His driving his "Doozy" around Hollywood made for an incongruous sight, as Chinese typically were gardeners and houseboys in prewar America, a deeply racist time. During World War II anti-Asian bigotry intensified, despite the fact that China was an ally of the United States in its war with Japan. Mistaken for a Japanese (despite their having been relocated to concentration camps away from the Pacific Coast), he wore a button that declared "I am Chinese." His close friend James Cagney also wore the same button, out of solidarity with his friend.
Wong Howe was involved in a long-term relationship with the writer Sanora Babb, who was a Caucasian. Anti-miscegenation laws on the books in California until 1948 forbade Caucasians from marrying Chinese, and the couple could not legally marry until 1949, after the laws had been repealed. In September of 1949 they finally tied the knot, and Sanora Babb Wong Howe later told a family member that they had to hunt for three days for a sympathetic judge who would marry them.
Wong Howe eventually bought a Chinese restaurant located near the Ventura Freeway, which he managed with Sanora. When a photographer from a San Fernando Valley newspaper came to take a picture of the eatery, Howe counseled that he should put a wide-angle lens on his camera so he wouldn't have to stand so close to the freeway to get the shot. "I'll take the picture," the photographer unknowingly snapped at one of the master cinematographers of the world, "you just mind your goddamned noodles!"
Perhaps due to the sting of racism, the hypocrisy of a country fighting the Nazis and their eugenics policies that itself allowed the proscription of racial intermarriage, which kept him from legally marrying the woman he loved, or perhaps because of the Red-baiting that consumed Hollywood after the War, James Wong Howe's professional reputation began to decline in the late 1940s. Losing his reputation for efficiency, he was branded "difficult to work with," and producers began to fear his on-set temper tantrums. Though Wong Howe was never blacklisted, he came under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee for his propensity for working with "Reds", "Pinks" and "fellow-travelers" such as John Garfield. Though he was never hauled in front of HUAC, Wong Howe's good friend Cagney had been a noted liberal in the 1930s. James Wong Howe felt the chill cast over the industry by McCarthyism.
In 1953 Wong Howe was given the opportunity to direct a feature film for the first time, being hired to helm a biography of Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein, Go Man Go (1954). The film, which was brought in at 21 days on a $130,000 budget, did nothing to enhance his reputation. Howe managed to pull out of his career doldrums, and after McCarthyism crested in 1954 he won his first Oscar for the B+W cinematography of The Rose Tattoo (1955), in which the shadows created by Howe's cinematography reveal the protagonist Serafina's emotional turmoil as much as the words of Tennessee Williams. He directed one more picture, the undistinguished Invisible Avenger (1958), a B-movie in which The Shadow, Lamont Cranston, investigated the murder of a New Orleans bandleader, before returning to his true vocation, the motion picture camera.
By the mid-'50s Howe had made it back to the top of the profession. In 1957 he did some of his most brilliant work on Sweet Smell of Success (1957), a textbook primer on the richness of B+W cinematography. Ironically, he was not Oscar-nominated for his work on the film, but was nominated the following year for his color work on The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and won his second Oscar for the B+W photography of Hud (1963). Once again Wong Howe used a landscape, the barren and lonely West Texas plains, to highlight the psychological state of the film's protagonist, the amoral and go-it-alone title character played by Paul Newman.
One of Wong Howe's favorite assignments in his career was the five-month shoot under the once-blacklisted Martin Ritt on The Molly Maguires (1970), a tale of labor strife, which was shot on location in the Pennsylvania coal fields. His health started to fail after the shoot, and he was forced into retirement, requiring frequent hospitalization in the final years of his life. Reportedly he had to turn down the offer to shoot The Godfather (1972), as he was not healthy enough to undertake the assignment. Gordon Willis got the job instead.
When Funny Lady (1975) producer Ray Stark fired Vilmos Zsigmond as the director of photography of his Funny Girl (1968) sequel, he hired Howe due to his faith that the great lighting cameraman who had done wonders with Mary Miles Minter, Clara Bow, and Hedy Lamarr could glamorize his star, Barbra Streisand. Howe took over the shoot, but his health gave out after a short time and he collapsed on the set. Oscar-winner Ernest Laszlo, then-president of the American Society of Cinematographers, filled in until Howe returned from the hospital and finished the shoot. He received his last Oscar nomination for his work on the film. It marked the end of a remarkable career in motion pictures that spanned almost 60 years.
By the time of his retirement, he had long been acknowledged as a master of his art, one of the greatest lighting cameramen of all time, credited with shooting over 130 pictures in Hollywood and England. He worked with many of the greatest and most important directors in cinema history, from Allan Dwan in the silent era to Sidney Lumet in the 1960s. He created three production companies during his professional career, an untopped career in which he racked up ten Academy Award nominations in both B+W white and color (including notoriously difficult Technicolor), in formats ranging from the Academy ratio to CinemaScope, all of which he mastered. An even greater honor than his two Oscar wins came his way. In 1949, when he was chosen to shoot test footage for the proposed comeback of the great Greta Garbo in the proposed movie "La Duchesse de Langeais," such was his reputation.
Sanora Babb Wong Howe wrote after his death, "My husband loved his work. He spent all his adult life from age 17 to 75, a year before his death, in the motion picture industry. When he died at 77, courageous in illness as in health, he was still thinking of new ways to make pictures. He was critical of poor quality in any area of film, but quick to see and appreciate the good. His mature style was realistic, never naturalistic. If the story demanded, his work could be harsh and have a documentary quality, but that quality was strictly Wong Howe. If the story allowed, his style was poetic realism, for he was a poet of the camera. This was a part of his nature, his impulse toward the beautiful, but it did not prevent his flexibility in dealing with all aspects of reality."
His greatest asset to film may have been his adaptability, the many ways in which he could vary his aesthetic in service of a story. Howe initially fought the notoriously gimmicky John Frankenheimer over his desire to use a fish-eye lens for "Seconds." Subsequently, Howe used the lens masterfully to convey the psychological torment of the protagonist, locked in a beyond-Kafkaesque nightmare that simply relying on sets and lighting couldn't bring across. He had made it work by adapting his aesthetic to the needs of the story and its characters, in service to his director.
Howe's work was given retrospectives at the 2002 Seattle International Film Festival, and in San Francisco in 2004, a rare honor for a cinematographer. It was testimony to his continuing reputation, more than a quarter century after his death, as one of the greatest and most innovative lighting cameramen the world of cinema has ever known.
Perhaps the greatest honor that can be bestowed on James Wong Howe is that this master craftsman, a genius of lighting, refutes the auteur theory, which holds that the director solely is "author" of a film. No one could reasonably make that claim on any picture on which Howe was the director of photography.- Actor
- Director
- Editor
James started his career in New York City and regional theatre before moving to Los Angeles in 2000 where he worked for over twenty years as an actor and filmmaker. In 2020 he relocated during Covid-19 to Melbourne, Australia to continue acting, filmmaking, and teaching actors with his acting studio The Hollywood Actor Lab.
James was born and raised in New York City and attended high school and college in New Jersey. He was captain of his high school Varsity football team, played LaCrosse and Wrestled, while learning Taekwondo in the summers. At 17, a full financial-aid scholarship took him to Rutgers University where he majored in Theater and Cinema and also became a competitive 3rd degree black belt and captain of the Taekwondo team. After graduating, his first job was as a resident actor at The George Street Playhouse. There, he met renowned Uta Hagen, who gave workshops to the actors during her last great performances of "Collected Stories". His training includes Rutgers University, The William Esper Studio, The Carter-Thor Studio, The Groundlings Improv Theater, Richard Waterhouse, Jonathan Slavin, and his favorite acting book is 'True and False' by David Mamet.
His feature film 'Starting from Scratch' was acquired and distributed worldwide after a successful film festival run. He wrote, directed, edited, produced and starred in the heartfelt romantic comedy. The movie won top honors of 'Best Film' at the DisOrient Film Festival of Oregon, 'Best Comedy' at the Asians on Film Festival in Los Angeles, 'Best Ensemble Cast' and 'Best Editing' at the Independent Filmmakers Showcase of Los Angeles, and 'Honorable Mention for Best Film' at the New Jersey Film Festival. Other career awards include a Best Actor trophy from the Stay Tuned TV Awards and a Prism award for directing. James is also an avid photographer and he completed the UCLA Extension Photography Certificate Program.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
- Producer
- Editor
So Yong Kim was born in 1968 in Pusan, South Korea. So Yong is a director and producer, known for Treeless Mountain (2008), In Between Days (2006) and For Ellen (2012).- Ernie Reyes Jr. was born on 15 January 1972 in San Jose, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), The Rundown (2003) and Red Sonja (1985). He has been married to Lisa Reyes since 11 November 2009. They have two children.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Chil Kong is known for The Mikado Project (2010), The Gambler (2014) and Freedom Writers (2007). He has been married to Erin Quill since 8 October 2005.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Darion Basco was born on 26 March 1974 in Pittsburg, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Cesar Chavez (2014), The Debut (2000) and The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).