Chris Tashima
Director
Best known for directing, producing, co-writing, and starring in the Academy Award-winning short film "Visas and Virtue," this director and actor also founded a Los Angeles-based, Asian-American theater company called Cedar Grove OnStage.
After studying film at both the University of California-Santa Cruz and the University of California-Los Angeles, he acted in several theatrical productions with Los Angeles' East West Players company.
He appeared in and directed a Regional Emmy-nominated 2003 PBS television special titled "Day of Independence."
Born to a Japanese-American family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he spent the majority of his youth in the California cities of Pasadena, Berkeley, and Los Angeles.
His acclaimed short film, "Visas and Virtue," tells the story of World War II-era diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who helped save the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees.