Christopher Inadomi "Chris" Tashima is an American actor and director of Japanese descent. One of the co-founders of the zealous company Cedar Crove Productions and the artistic director of its Asian-American subsidiary Cedar Grove OnStage. Oscar winner for the director's film "Visas and Virtue", in which he also starred.
Biography and personal life
Christopher was born on May 24, 1960 on the East Coast of the United States to a Japanese family. His father, Atsushi Wallace Tashima, is an American district judge.
Chris spent his childhood in Pasadena, California. He was educated first at John Marshall High School and then at Harvard Law School.
At the age of 6 he began to study violin according to the Suzuki Method.
At school age, Christopher's family moved to Berkeley, where Tashima attended Harvard College Preparatory School.
After graduating from college, Tashima returned to Southern California, where he studied filmmaking at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Porter College). In parallel with his studies, he attended additional courses in UCLA film production at Visual Communications.
He began his acting career with East West Players in 1985.
He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
Actor career
One of Tashima's first significant works was the lead role in the 2006 romantic-dramatic comedy Americans, starring Joan Chen, filmed at IFC First Take. The film was presented at the SXSW Film Festival and won two awards, including a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast. Starring Chris Tashima, Allison C, Kelly Hu, Ben Shankman, Winter Reaser and Joan Chen. The film is based on the novel American Knees by Sean Wong and focuses on the relationship between an Asian man and a woman in the United States.
In 1995, Tashima starred in the AFI studio short film Requiem, directed and co-directed by Elizabeth Sung. Chris also played the historical figure, journalist and civil rights activist Sei Fuji in George Shaw and Jeffrey Ji Chin's short film The Little Tokyo Reporter. Also appeared as GameKeeper (Mr. Chan) in the RPG film.
Requiem is a narrative short film directed and actress Elisabeth Sung. The plot is based on Sung's childhood in Hong Kong and her trip to New York as a ballet student, the story of a struggling dancer and her brother, who later dies of AIDS. In 1996, the film received the CINE Award from the Golden Eagle.
Then he starred in the film "Strawberry Fields" (1997) by Angus McFadyenomi, as well as in the film directed by Sherwood Hoo "Passage Lani Loa" (1998) with Sue Nakamura.
Strawberry Fields is an independent feature film directed by Rea Tajiri with Kerry Sakamoto. The plot tells the story of a Japanese teenager who lives in Chicago in the 70s.
Lani Loa's Passage is a 1998 film directed by Sherwood Hu about a woman killed on her wedding day in Hawaii, who then returns to take revenge. Starring Angus Fakfadyen, Ray Bumatai, Carlotta Chang and Chris Tashima. The film was the first short film by Coppola & Wayne Wang Chrome Dragon Films, which specialized in the production of short films with Asian talent, funded by America.
The list of films in which Tashima played can include the films "Ken Narasaki", "No, no, boy", "Whose Yu" and "The language is their property." Based on the latest film, Tashima, together with Noel Alumit, Anthony David and Dennis Dan, staged an ensemble performance at the Celebration Theater, which received the prestigious LA Weekly Theater Award.
Chris has also played roles in the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Zellerbach Playhouse, the Intiman Playhouse and the Seattle Children's Theater, the Alliance Theater Company in Atlanta and the Syracuse Stage.
Directorial career
Chris Tashima won 2 Academy Awards for his own production of Live Action, directed by Chris Donahue, and 1997 for Visas and Virtue, in which he directed, co-wrote (adapted Toyama's one-act play) and starring …
Visas and Virtue is a 1997 short film. Directed by Chris Tashima. Starring Chris Tashima, Diana Georger, Susan Fukuda, Lawrence Craig. The painting was inspired by the story of the Holocaust savior Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara, known as the Japanese Schindler. Sugihara, while working at the Lithuanian consulate in Kuanas, issued more than 2,000 visas for Polish and Lithuanian Jews, in violation of his government's ban from Japan. Thanks to this, about 6,000 Jews were able to escape the tragedy of the Holocaust during the Second World War.
Together with Toyama and Donahue Tashima, they founded Cedar Grove OnStage in 1996.
In 2003, Tashima became the director, co-author and actor of Independence Day, a short film only 30 minutes long. Despite this, the painting was nominated for the NATAS Regional Award in San Francisco, Northern California in the Special History or Cultural Program category.
As a theater director, Tashima became famous for the world premiere of Dan Kwong's Be Like Water, which was later filmed by East West Players in collaboration with Cedar Grove OnStage in 2008. The plot of the film tells the story of a young Asian-American girl living in Chicago in the 70s, who was visited by the ghost of Bruce Lee.
Chris directed several shows with the Grateful Crane ensemble and premiered Soji Kashiwagi's play Nihonmahi: The Place To Be, which debuted in San Francisco in 2006.
Professional career
Tashima is a recognized member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the "Department of Short Films and Feature Animation", is a member of:
- Directors Guild of America;
- Screen Actors Guild of America;
- American Federation of Radio and Television Artists;
- The Actors' Equality Association;
- Societies of directors and choreographers.
Chris has achieved great success in the field of scenography - stage design. In 1995, Tashima won the Ovation Award for Best Set Design at the Sweeney Todd Small Theater, as well as a similar 1992 Drama-Logue Award for Stage Design (with Christopher Komuro) for Into The Woods commissioned by East West Players. The plot is a drama about Japanese-American internment during World War II.
Tashima was the producer for the world premiere of Maui. This play was written in 1941 by author John Shirota, based on his novel The Lucky Ones in Hawaii, and is a World War II comedy. The production was presented at the InnerCity Cultural Center in Los Angeles and was nominated for an LA Weekly Award in the Production of the Year category.
Awards
Chris Tashima is the recipient of the following awards:
- Biennial Japanese American from National JACL. Received in collaboration with Toyama.
- Asian American Bridge Builder Award from A Magazine, New York.
- Club 1939 Humanitarian Award, Los Angeles, California.
- East West Players Ghost Award on behalf of Cedar Grove Productions, Los Angeles, California.
- Award from Japan American Service Committee and Chicago.
He also received a Special Recognition Award from the Japan American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, California.
