Joseph Kahn (born Ahn Jun-hee, ; October 12, 1972) is a Grammy-winning South Korean-American film and music video director. Kahn has worked with various artists such as

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

, Britney Spears,

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

, Backstreet Boys, Imagine Dragons,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

, Rob Thomas,

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

, Chris Brown,

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne (born Kelly Brianne Clarkson, April 24, 1982), known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Rising to fame after winning the American Idol season 1, first season of ''Ameri ...

, Ava Max, Mariah Carey and

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final lineup comprised Beyoncé, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams (singer), Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Hou ...

Early life

Kahn was born Ahn Jun-hee () in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. His family spent part of his childhood there and in Livorno,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

until moving to Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, when Joseph was seven. After graduating from Jersey Village High School in 1990, Kahn went to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's Tisch School of the Arts but dropped out after a year. Returning to Houston, began to direct hip hop music videos.

Career

Music videos

Kahn's videography spans thirty years. In the mid-1990s he directed music videos for artists including Aaliyah, Ice Cube, Backstreet Boys and Snoop Dogg. In 2003, Kahn won his first Grammy for

's " Without Me" video which also won the MTV VMA's Best Video of the Year, as well as Best Direction. His video for

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

" Waking Up in Vegas" won the MVPA 2009 Best Video of the Year. Kahn's usage of Japanese pop culture in music videos first began with Janet Jackson's " Doesn't Really Matter" video. The video was also the most expensive video Kahn has directed and is among the most expensive of all time, costing over $2.5 million. In 2014, Kahn was given The Icon Award by the UK Music Video Awards. In 2015, Kahn directed MTV's choices for Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, Best Female Video, and Best Collaboration for multiple videos from American singer-songwriter

's fifth studio album '' 1989'', including " Blank Space", " Bad Blood", " Wildest Dreams" and " Out of the Woods" and her sixth studio album '' Reputation'', including " Look What You Made Me Do", " ...Ready for It?", " End Game" and " Delicate". He won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Music Video of 2015 for Swift's single "Bad Blood" featuring Kendrick Lamar. In 2017, Kahn won the American Country Music Awards Video of the Year for "Forever Country." In 2019, Kahn collaborated with Ava Max for the " Torn" music video, and directed a new music video for Mariah Carey's 1994 hit, " All I Want for Christmas Is You". In 2022, Kahn directed a music video for Chris Brown's " Iffy".

Film

Kahn also directed the 2004 action film '' Torque'' starring Ice Cube. In May 2007, it was announced that he would direct an adaptation of William Gibson's science fiction classic '' Neuromancer'' for producer Peter Hoffman. On May 7, 2010, '' Fangoria'' reported that Vincenzo Natali, the director of '' Cube'' and '' Splice'', had taken over directing duties and would also rewrite the screenplay. In 2011, Kahn directed the low-budget self-financed horror comedy '' Detention''. After winning a number of audience favorite awards on the film festival circuit, ''Detention'' was picked up for theatrical distribution by Sony for a release in 2012. In July 2016, test footage for the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character Swamp Thing was released which was directed by Kahn for the potential Justice League Dark film. Kahn's latest film is '' Bodied'', a satirical black comedy about racial tensions in the world of battle rap. The film was produced by

and premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section. ''Bodied'' continued to pick up the Audience Awards at both AFI Fest and Austin's Fantastic Fest. His fourth feature film, ''Ick'', starring Brandon Routh, Malina Weissman and Mena Suvari, was scheduled for release in 2024 and will premiere at the

2024 Toronto International Film Festival The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 5–15, 2024. The festival opened with David Gordon Green's film ''Nutcrackers (film), Nutcrackers'', and closed with Rebel Wilson's directorial debut film ''The Deb (fil ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Joseph 1972 births American film directors of Korean descent American music video directors Film directors from Los Angeles Film directors from Texas Grammy Award winners Jersey Village High School alumni Living people People from Busan Mass media people from Houston People from Livorno People from Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles South Korean emigrants to the United States Tisch School of the Arts alumni