Chris Tashima

DirectorWriterProducerActor

Chris Tashima is an award-winning American actor and director. He has starred in numerous independent feature films, most notably as the romantic lead opposite Joan Chen, Allison Sie, Kelly Hu and Autumn Reeser, in Eric Byler's Americanese which won a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast at SXSW. He was awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role, at the inaugural Love International Film Festival, for his portrayal of Papa Nakaji in Tim Savage's World War II family drama Under the Blood Red Sun produced by Dana Satler Hankins. He portrayed real-life educator/activist Shigeo Yoshida in the 442nd RCT origin story Go For Broke from producer/screenwriter Stacey Hayashi. Most recently, he played the hard-nosed Uncle Bob in the generational family comedy No No Girl from writer/director Paul Daisuke Goodman--for which he received two nominations at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, and he plays Hiro in Brian M. Tang's action/fantasy short Kodama, receiving its world premiere at SXSW 2023. Tashima received an Academy Award® for directing the dramatic short film Visas and Virtue, a re-telling of the heroic actions of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. In addition he co-wrote the screenplay adapting a one-act play by Tim Toyama, and starred as the Humanitarian diplomat Sugihara. He also directed, co-wrote and starred in the WWII Japanese American internment short film Day of Independence which was nominated for a NATAS Northern California Area Emmy®. These two directorial works came from Tashima's own Cedar Grove Productions, an indie entertainment house aiming to "Boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the close-up onscreen."

24-03-1960

Birthday

Aries

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also known as (male)

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Place of Birth

24-03-1960

Birthday

Aries

Zodiac Sign

Genres

Total Films

Also Known As (male)

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Place of Birth

Popular works

Media

Creative career

actor

22 Works

producer

1 Works

director

10 Works

writer

3 Works

other

3 Works

Kodama

An fantasy/action short about a SWAT Samurai team entering a spirit world to rescue a lost captain.

5.5

Year:

2023

No No Girl

In the middle of the night, before they are to be sent to a Japanese American Internment Camp, one family buries a secret in their backyard garden. 80 years later, a clue is discovered and what begins as a mystery soon turns criminal as a family of different minds try to come together to discover the truth of their past.

0.0

Year:

2022

Surviving Theater 9

From the survivors of the Aurora Colorado Batman Movie Theater and Columbine mass shootings, a powerful and inspirational movie about the events and about hope.

0.0

Year:

2018

Go for Broke

During the tumultuous year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a group of University of Hawaii ROTC students navigate wartime Hawaii and fight discrimination.

6.0

Year:

2017

Under the Blood-Red Sun

December 7, 1941 - TOMIKAZU “TOMI” NAKAJI (Kyler Ki Sakamoto) and his best friend BILLY DAVIS (Kalama Epstein) are playing baseball in a field near their homes in Hawaii when Japan launches a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. As Tomi looks up at the sky and recognizes the Blood-Red Sun emblem on the fighter planes, he knows that his life has changed forever. Based on actual events, Under the Blood-Red Sun is an unforgettable story of friendship, courage and survival.

6.1

Year:

2014

Real Playing Game

In a future not too far away, Steve Battier, an elderly, terminally ill multi-millionaire, accepts the offer of a company - RPG - that in exchange for a high monetary sum, provides a very select group of clientèle the chance to be young again. For 10 hours, 10 millionaires from around the world, men and women of fame and power, are transferred to attractive and healthy younger bodies, to live in a world of temporary rejuvenation, in a game of real thrills, where every hour someone must die.

4.0

Year:

2013

Lil Tokyo Reporter

1935 Los Angeles, community leader Sei Fujii uncovers the corrupt activities of his community's underground mafia. He must choose between saving the face of his deteriorating community and confronting the issues head on through his newspaper. Based on a true story.

0.0

Year:

2012

Model Minority

Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American 16 year old, endangers her promising future as an aspiring artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer.

4.3

Year:

2012

Half Kenneth

1945: after the death of his father, Ken escapes Japanese American internment camp to find his Caucasian mother who lives in town. Things become complicated, however, when Kens little brother, Jo, joins him at the last minute.

0.0

Year:

2009

Americanese

Long after their breakup, Chinese American Raymond Ding and Amerasian Aurora Crane struggle to let go. Torn apart by mismatched ideals, meddling friends, and the complexities of racial identities, they find other suitable mates but cannot stay away from each other

2.0

Year:

2006

Day of Independence

Zip, a 17 year-old Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) baseball pitcher, faces the tragic circumstances of the World War II internment of 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. Set in a relocation camp in the summer of 1943, this film chronicles the journey of an American family torn apart by a forced and unjust incarceration, a father's decision that challenges his son to find strength, and ultimately his son's triumph through courage, sacrifice and the All-American game of baseball.

0.0

Year:

2003

Lani Loa: The Passage

A Hawaii cop becomes the suspect in a series of killings after his would-be bride is murdered on their wedding day by a gang of bank robbers, and returns as a ghost, taking vengeance on her killers, the Lono Gang.

3.0

Year:

1998

Visas and Virtue

Europe, 1940. For thousands of Jews, a Japanese diplomat and his wife defy Tokyo and the Nazis, and offer visas, for life.

6.2

Year:

1997

Strawberry Fields

After a visit from the ghost of her sister, a rebellious 16 year old Japanese American girl hits the road with her boyfriend in search of a better life. Hooking up with activist friends along the way, she comes to an important realization about her past: that her parents were incarcerated in an internment camp during World War II. She detours her road trip, ditches her boyfriend and drives off into the Arizona desert in a determined search for the truth that will set her free.

5.7

Year:

1997

Requiem

A waitress-dancer remembers her loving brother and their bittersweet childhood in Hong Kong.

0.0

Year:

1995

The Perfect Weapon

Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.

6.1

Year:

1991

Overkill

A Tokyo cop is sent to Los Angeles to help an LAPD detective break up a yakuza ring operating in the city.

2.9

Year:

1987

Lethal Weapon

Buttoned-down veteran LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh is partnered with unhinged cop Martin Riggs, who — distraught after his wife's death — has a death wish and takes unnecessary risks with criminals at every turn. The odd couple embark on their first homicide investigation as partners, involving a young woman known to Murtaugh with ties to a drug and prostitution ring.

7.3

Year:

1987

The Karate Kid Part II

Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.

6.3

Year:

1986

Killzone

A troubled Vietnam vet snaps during a training exercise at a survivalist-type military camp and thinks he's back in Vietnam. He kills several of the staff members who he thinks are Vietcong. The other participants set out to track him down and capture him before he hurts or kills anyone else. However, the camp's owner, who knows he'll be in trouble if word of this incident gets out, has no intention of capturing the man; he plans on killing him.

3.7

Year:

1985

Scandal Sheet

The publisher of a celebrity gossip tabloid sets out to destroy an aging actor, whose career is foundering and who is also facing a battle with alcoholism.

5.3

Year:

1985

The Hour of the Ox

An unexpected visit from a jealous ex-girlfriend accidentally turns bloody, but a deadlier fate awaits when the clock reaches the hour of the ox.

0.0

Year:

1985