Lee Isaac Chung
Birthdate: Oct 19, 1978
Birthplace: Denver, Colorado, USA
Lee Isaac Chung (birthname in Korean: Jeong Isak) is one of the most acclaimed and admired American filmmakers who have emerged since 2007, the year that he debuted his astonishing feature film (as director/co-writer/producer/cinematographer/editor) about the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Munyarangabo, featuring a group of amateur Rwanda actors and widely acclaimed as a masterpiece and the finest film ever made about the genocide.
Chung’s film premiered in the Un Certain Regard selection of the Cannes Film Festival, traveled to dozens of major festivals including Toronto, Busan, Rotterdam, Buenos Aires, New Directors/New Films, AFI Fest, Berlin, and Sarajevo, and was released by Almond Tree Films.
Chung’s second feature as director/co-writer/producer/editor was the indie drama, Lucky Life (2010), with Daniel O’Keefe, Megan McKenna, and Kenyon Adams, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before a release by Almond Tree Films. Chung was director/writer/cinematographer/editor of the little-seen drama, Abigail Harm (2012), co-written and co-produced by Chung’s ongoing creative collaborator, Samuel Gray Anderson, and co-starring Amanda Plummer, Will Patton, and Burt Young, and which premiered at the Busan film festival leading to a minimal release.
Lee Isaac Chung had his filmmaking breakthrough to a mainstream audience with the Oscar-nomination semi-autobiographical drama, Minari (2020), co-starring Steven Yeun, Young Yuh-jung, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, and Will Patton, premiering at the Sundance film festival (where it won both the grand jury and audience prizes) and going on to gross $15.5 million (on $2 million costs) for distributor A24 and was nominated for six Oscars (including two for Chung as director and screenwriter, and a Best Supporting Actress win for Youn).
Chung was director only on his first studio movie, the $200-million sequel, Twisters (2024), produced by Amblin Entertainment and the Kennedy/Marshall Company and released by Universal Pictures (North America) and Warner Bros. (ex-North America) and co-starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane.
Personal Details
Lee Isaac Chung was born in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Denver, Atlanta, and Lincoln, Arkansas by his Korean-born parents including his father Han Gil Chung. Chung attended and graduated from Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Arkansas. Chung attended Yale as a Biology major, then switched his studies to filmmaking in his senior year, and after graduating from Yale, he was a graduate student in filmmaking at the University of Utah. Chung is married to Valerie Chung.
Known For
Awards
Two-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Original Screenplay, Academy Awards (2021); Two-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Film Not in the English Language, BAFTA Awards (2021); Winner, People’s Choice Award, Denver Film Festival (2020); Nominee, Best Motion Picture Director, Directors Guild of America Awards (2021); Nominee, Breakthrough Director, Gotham Awards (2007); Nominee, Best Motion Picture Writing, NAACP Image Awards (2021); Three-time Nominee, Someone to Watch Award/Best Director/Best Screenplay, Independent Spirit Awards (2008, 2021); Winner, Grand Jury Prize, AFI Fest Awards (2007); Winner, Best Original Screenplay, National Board of Review Awards (2021); Winner, Director of the Year, Santa Barbara Film Festival Awards (2021); Two-time Winner, Grand Jury Prize/Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival Awards (2020); Winner, Best First Film, FICCO (Mexico City) (2008).
Someone to Watch Award
Film Independent Spirit Awards
Filmography
director
Previous (2)
- 2024 |
- 2021 |
actor
Previous (16)
Some Facts About Lee Isaac Chung
Alum: Lee Isaac Chung is an alumnus of the U.S. Senate Youth Program.
Switch: Chung made a major career switch from medicine to filmmaking after watching a selection of world cinema at Yale University in his senior year.
