Christopher Inadomi Tashima (born March 24, 1960) is a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. Tashima directed, co-wrote, and starred in the 26-minute film '' Visas and Virtue'' for which he and producer Chris Donahue won the 1998 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Personal

Tashima was born on the East Coast, while his father ( Judge A. Wallace Tashima) attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, but grew up in California. He lived in Pasadena, where he began

Suzuki Method The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners. Backgroun ...

violin at age 6. His family moved to Berkeley, where he lived for nine years, attending The College Preparatory School. He returned to Southern California, graduating from John Marshall High School (1978). He attended

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

( Porter College), where he studied film production. He also attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and took additional filmmaking courses at Visual Communications (VC). He started his acting career at East West Players in 1985. He is the son of U.S. Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima. He currently resides in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Actor

Tashima stars as the romantic lead opposite

Joan Chen Joan Chen (simplified Chinese; 陈冲; born April 26, 1961) is an American actress and film director. She made her film debut in the Chinese film ''Youth'' (1977) before starring in the film (1979). She came to the attention of American audien ...

in Eric Byler's '' Americanese'', an unreleased feature from IFC First Take. The film won two awards after its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, including a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding

Ensemble Cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

. He has also appeared in Sherwood Hu's '' Lani Loa - The Passage'' (1998) with Angus Macfadyen, and Rea Tajiri's '' Strawberry Fields'' (1997) with

Suzy Nakamura Suzy Nakamura (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress and Improvisational theatre, improv comedian. She is known for her many guest appearances on sitcoms such as ''According to Jim'', ''Half & Half (TV series), Half and Half'', ''8 Simpl ...

. He starred opposite Tamlyn Tomita in the 1995 AFI short, ''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

'', directed by actress Elizabeth Sung. Tashima also played the real-life historical figure, journalist and civil rights advocate Sei Fujii in George Shaw's and Jeffrey Gee Chin's short film, ''Lil Tokyo Reporter''. He also played GameKeeper (Mr. Chan) in the film ''

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

''. His stage credits include originating roles in Ken Narasaki's '' No-No Boy'', Chay Yew’s ''A Language of Their Own'' ( LA Weekly Theater Award for Ensemble Performance, shared with Noel Alumit, Anthony David and

Dennis Dun Dennis Gong Dun (born April 19, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. Early life and education Of Chinese Jamaican descent, Dun was born in Stockton, California. He trained in martial arts and Chinese opera growing up. He originally st ...

) at Celebration Theatre,

Laurence Yep Laurence Michael Yep ( zh, t=葉祥添, s=叶祥添, p=Yè Xiángtiān, j=Jip6 Coeng4 Tim1; born June 14, 1948) is an American writer. He is known for his children's books, having won the Newbery Honor twice for his ''Golden Mountain'' series. I ...

's '' Dragonwings'' at

Berkeley Repertory Theatre Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a Regional theater in the United States, regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley, California, Downtown Berkeley. Histor ...

– on Tour and at Zellerbach Playhouse, (reprised at Intiman Playhouse by Seattle Children's Theatre, Alliance Theatre Company in Atlanta, and Syracuse Stage), Tim Toyama's ''Visas and Virtue'', at the Road Theatre Company, and

Wakako Yamauchi Wakako Yamauchi (, October 23, 1924 – August 16, 2018) was a Japanese Americans, Japanese American playwright and short story writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian American theatre, Asian-American theater. Biography Yamauc ...

's ''The Memento'' at East West Players.

Director

Tashima won an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film with producer Chris Donahue, for '' Visas and Virtue'' (1997), which he directed, co-wrote (adapting the one-act play by Toyama), and starred in. To produce ''Visas and Virtue'', he co-founded Cedar Grove Productions in 1996, with Toyama and Donahue. Tashima directed, co-wrote and acted in '' Day of Independence'' (2003), a half-hour

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, produced by Lisa Onodera, which received a Regional

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

Nomination from the NATAS San Francisco/Northern California Chapter, in the category of Historical/Cultural — Program/Special. His stage directing credits include the world premiere of Dan Kwong's '' Be Like Water'' produced by East West Players, in association with Cedar Grove OnStage, in September 2008. He has directed several shows with the Grateful Crane Ensemble, including the world premiere of Soji Kashiwagi's ''

Nihonmachi is a term used to refer to historical Japanese communities in Southeast and East Asia. The term has come to also be applied to several modern-day communities, though most of these are called simply " Japantown", in imitation of the common term " ...

: The Place To Be'', presented in San Francisco in 2006.

Professional

Tashima is a member of the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

, in the Short Films Branch, and was elected Branch Governor in June, 2024. He belongs to the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording ...

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in Theatre, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions w ...

and the

Stage Directors and Choreographers Society The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), formerly known as Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC), is an independent national labor union established in 1959, representing theatrical directors and choreographe ...

. He is also a stage

set designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

. He won a 1995 Ovation Award for Best Set Design in a Smaller Theater, for ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

'', and a 1992 Drama-Logue Award for Scenic Design (shared with Christopher Komuro) for ''

Into The Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'', both at East West Players. Tashima served as producer of the 1990 world premiere of ''Maui, December 7, 1941'', a play by Jon Shirota, based on his novel, "Lucky Come Hawaii." Directed by

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, singing, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also perf ...

, the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

comedy was presented at the InnerCity Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and received a nomination from the

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

, for " Production of the Year."

Community

Honors: * "Japanese American of the Biennium" (shared with Toyama) – Presented by National JACL * "Bridge Builder" Asian American Leadership Award – Presented by A Magazine, New York, NY * Humanitarian Award – Presented by The "1939" Club, Los Angeles CA * Visionary Award (on behalf of Cedar Grove Productions) – Presented by East West Players, Los Angeles CArepost from Back Stage West, 6/18/98; EWP 32nd Anniversary Awards
/ref> * Community Award – Presented by the Japanese American Service Committee, Chicago IL * Special Recognition Award – Presented by the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Los Angeles CA

References

External links

*
Chris Tashima
on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

In-depth interview of Chris Tashima in Asiance Magazine

Chris Tashima interviewed by Nichi Bei Times
at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Chris Tashima interviewed by Terry Nichols on SanDiegoYuYu.com - 3/1/05

Chris Tashima interviewed by Dennis Amith on asianconnections.com

Q&A with Chris Tashima
from San Diego Asian Film Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Tashima, Chris 1960 births Living people American male film actors American theatre directors of Japanese descent Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners American film directors of Japanese descent Male actors from Berkeley, California Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from the San Francisco Bay Area Mass media people from the San Francisco Bay Area University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Film directors from California American male actors of Japanese descent