My
advice to young people, young Asian Americans, that want to
get into the film industry
is to prove that you are worth it. I constantly get phone calls/faxes/letters
from
Asian American actors /filmmakers that want me to help them.
When I take a look at their films or things that they have written,
THEY ARE TERRIBLE!
First of all, you've got to be GOOD. . . then you have
a chance to make it.
Terrance Chang (From "The Slanted Screen")
Films, television
and theater often are the vision of their respective directors. Listed
below is the fast-growing number of visionaries from the Asian/Asian
Pacific American communities who have made their respective mark(s)
in the American entertainment world.
GREGG
ARAKI - one of the angriest, most unconventional, and
relentlessly intriguing voices in independent cinema. "Mysterious
Skin" is his 2005 offering.
GURINDER CHADHA - She's directed award-winning documentaries
for the BFI, BBC and Channel Four. Her
films include Bhaji on the Beach, What's Cooking?, Bend
It Like Beckham and her 2005 film of Bride and Prejudice.
Her
husband is Paul Mayeda Berges.
HENRY CHAN - a Film/TV director who was the principal
director for Brandy's "Moesha" (on UPN) along with working
on Scrubs, The King of Queens, Lizzie McQuire, Soul Food,
Brothers Garcia, Girlfriends and The Parkers. Henry won a
Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding editing on "The Cosby
Show."
BOB CHIN - director is a member of the AVN Hall of
Fame
CHRISTINE CHOY - Director of Visionary Documentaries
such as "Who Killed Vincent Chin?"
DEAN DEVLIN - His credits include Independence Day,
Godzilla and 2005's Flyboys.
ARTHUR DONG - His career as a documenetary filmmaker
spans over thirty decades and over 100 films
DAVID HENRY HWANG - Playwright and Tony Award-winning
Author.
He often works with a wide spectrum of composers such as Howard
Shore. Listen to his interview by clicking HERE.
DEEPA MEHTA - Canadian-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta
was born in Amritsar, India in 1949 recently completed Sam
& Me, episode of George Lucas' Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
and Camilla, Fire Earth & Water.
ISMAIL MERCHANT - With longtime collaborators James
Ivory as director and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as screenwriter,
Merchant not only adapted great books by Henry James, E.M.
Forster and V.S. Naipaul, but also helped establish the careers
of a new wave of renowned English actors, including Hugh Grant
("Maurice"), Helena Bonham-Carter ("A Room with a View") and
Emma Thompson ("Howards End"). He leaves a long-lasting
legacy in film history.
TAKASHI MIIKE - Filmmaker enjoys cult status in his
native Japan and made Time magazine's Top 10 list of non-Hollywood
directors in 1998
AMON
MIYAMOTO - He is the first Japanese citizen to direct
a Broadway show, the Stephen
Sondheim-John Weidman musical "Pacific Overtures," with
B. D. Wong.
KEN MOK - Fast-rising producer/director whose credits
include All American Girl, Making the Band, UPN's Top Model
and VH-1's remake of the Partridge Family
MIRA NAIR - Highly acclaimed director from India directed
Salaam, Bombay and Monsoon Wedding!
YASUJIRO OZU - director is regarded by filmmakers,
historians and critics as an all-time-great filmmaker. Among
Ozu's admirers are such internationally renowned auteurs as
Jim Jarmusch, Stanley Kwan, Aki Kaurismaki, Claire Denis,
Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Wim Wenders.
DANNY & OXIDE PANG CHUN - Born in Hong Kong in 1965, the Pang twins have directed, separately
or together, a half-dozen films: crime stories, thrillers,
psychological dramas, comedies. But they will always be known for
their ghosts, specifically those that haunted their best-known
film, "The Eye," which came out in 2002. It told the story of a
young blind woman who has her sight restored by a surgical procedure
and soon realizes that her new corneas also allow her to see ghosts.
CHAN-WOOK PARK - won international acclaim, the Grand
Prix at Cannes in 2004 and industry accolades for his movie
"Old Boy," which featured the memorable scene of a man who
celebrates his release from imprisonment and vents his anger
by stuffing his mouth with a squirming octopus.
YUEN WO PING - widely acclaim Chinese choreographer,
now directing films
DAVID REN - David Ren, is a directorial prodigy who also writes his own scripts.
He has already been compared to such cinematic idols such as Woody
Allen and John Favreau (Elf, Swingers).
David was born on the streets of New York to an immigrant Asian
family. His artistic abilities and brilliance were apparent even at
an early age.
In his teens, David was accepted to the prestigious Bronx High School
of Science. While still a teenager, he started working as a
screenwriter and was accepted to yet another prestigious school; The
Professional Children's School of New York. It was at this school
that his teachers were able to shape and evolve the ambitious future
director. (Some of David's better known classmates included: Scarlett
Johansson, Jena Malone, and Kieran Culkin.)
At the age of 20, David wrote and directed his debut "big budget"
feature film, "Shanghai Kiss", starring Ken Leung (Rush Hour, Red
Dragon, Inside Man, and X-men 3), Kelly Hu (X-men 2, Scorpion King),
Hayden Panettiere (Remember the Titans, Joe Somebody, Raising Helen,
Ice Princess), Joel David Moore (Dodgeball, Art School Confidential),
Byron Mann (Red Corner, The Corruptor), Summer Altice, Timothy
Bottoms, and the immortal James Hong.
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN - This talented native
of India has various hits such as Sixth Sense, Unbreakable
and Signs.
ONDI TIMONER - Grammy-nominated director/producer
filmed the documentaries "The Nature of the Beast" and "Dam
Nation." She created VH-1's "Sound Affects" and directed music
videos for artists such as the Dandy Warhols and Lucinda Williams.
JOHNNIE
TO (Kei-fung) - Made some of the most critically acclaimed
films of recent Hong
Kong cinema, Creative Director of China Star Entertainment,
developed
the "Hundred Years of Film" initiative and heads his
own film production company, Milkyway Image.
STANLEY
TONG - Stuntman/stunt coordinator-turned-director/martial
arts director/story writer from Hong Kong
WAYNE WANG - this director has done pictures such as
Joy Luck Club, Chan is Missing, Dim Sum, Last Holiday and others
JAMES WAN - Co-Producer/Writer of the Indie Hit film
"Saw" The first "Saw," which cost about $1.2
million to make, opened at $18.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and ended up grossing
$102.9 million worldwide. Right after its opening, Lions Gate
greenlighted "Saw II," a $4-million production that
generated worldwide ticket sales of $144.1 million a year
later. "Saw" is the most lucrative franchise at
the independent studio of Lion's Gate. The picture, produced
for less than $10 million, grossed $34.3
million in three days in the U.S. and Canada, according to
studio estimates Sunday. It outperformed last year's "Saw
II" to become the studio's biggest opener ever, and the
industry's top R-rated opening this year. "Saw III"
opened at 3,167 locations and averaged $10,830 per theater
— the highest among wide releases. The audience was
estimated at 69% under age 25 and skewed slightly male.
ELIZABETH WONG - Wrote plays such as Letters to a
Student Revolutionary, The Happy Prince, The Play Formerly
Known as The Happy Prince, Explorator-yum, China Doll, The
Concubine Spy and Kimchee and Chitlins.
ALICE WU - Director/Writer/Producer of "Saving Face"
- 1st film bankrolled by Hollywood since "Joy Luck Club."
JESSICA YU - She's a filmmaker based in Los Angeles.
She won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short
for "Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien"
RONNY YU - Hong Kong-born director involved with prominent
American films
CORY YUEN - is an acknowledged master of martial arts
cinema
