Chris Tashima

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" (2006), 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" (2014), from producer Dana Satler Hankins. Other recent roles include real-life educator/activist Shigeo Yoshida in "Go For Broke" (2018), from producer/screenwriter Stacey Hayashi, and the alcoholic father in Lily Mariye's feature directorial debut, "Model Minority" (2012).

Tashima received an Academy Award® for directing the dramatic short film, "Visas and Virtue" (1997), a re-telling of the heroic actions of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. He also co-wrote the screenplay, adapted from a one-act play by Tim Toyama, and starred as the Humanitarian diplomat Sugihara. He directed, co-wrote and starred, as well, in the WWII Japanese American internment short film, "Day of Independence" (2003), which was nominated for a NATAS Northern California Area Emmy®. These two directorial works from Tashima came out of his own Cedar Grove Productions, an indie entertainment house aiming to "Boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the close-up onscreen." Cedar Grove Productions currently has two feature films in development, with Tashima slated to return to the director's chair on both.