Michael Kang (born May 3, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter. He is

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian American ...

and based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Feature films

''The Motel''

His feature directorial debut was the independent movie '' The Motel'', which premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ''The Motel'' won the

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

and the NHK International Filmmakers Award, as well as the top jury prizes from the

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asia ...

, the

San Diego Asian Film Festival The San Diego Asian Film Festival ( SDAFF) is an annual event organized by Pacific Arts Movement (formerly the San Diego Asian Film Foundation) that takes place every November in San Diego, California. Background SDAFF is the flagship event for ...

, and the VC Film Festival (the

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications (VC). It was established in 1983 by Linda Mabalot as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific Ameri ...

). Most recently, ''The Motel'' was nominated for Best First Feature Film by the Independent Spirit Awards. It is currently on DVD through

Palm Pictures Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such pro ...

and stars

Sung Kang Sung-Ho Kang (born April 8, 1972) is an American actor. His first major role was as Han Lue in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, a character he first portrayed in ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002). Kang also played John Mak in the television serie ...

''West 32nd''

Kang also directed the Korean American feature ''

West 32nd ''West 32nd'' is a 2007 film directed by Michael Kang and starring John Cho, Jun-seong Kim, Grace Park, Jane Kim and Jeong Jun-ho. The plot concerns John Kim (John Cho), an ambitious young lawyer in New York, who takes on a pro-bono case involvi ...

''. ''West 32nd'' premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in 2007. The film was produced by Teddy Zee and features

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the '' Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series. Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian A ...

, Grace Park and Jeong Jun Ho.

''Knots'' aka ''Four Wedding Planners''

Kang's third film was the Hawaii-set romantic comedy ''Knots'' which was written by

Kimberly-Rose Wolter Kimberly-Rose Wolter is an American actress, writer, producer and co-founder of VS Theatre company in Los Angeles, California. Film Wolter has written and starred in two feature films, 2003's ''Tre'' which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 ...

, and stars Kimberly-Rose Walter in addition to

, who also starred in his first film, ''The Motel.'' The film also stars

Illeana Douglas Illeana Hesselberg (born July 25, 1961 or 1965), known professionally as Illeana Douglas, is an American actress and filmmaker. She appeared in three episodes of '' Six Feet Under'', for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination as O ...

Janel Parrish Janel Meilani Parrish Long (born October 30, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She starred as Mona Vanderwaal in the mystery-drama television series ''Pretty Little Liars'' (2010–2017) and its spinoff '' Pretty Little Liars: The Perfecti ...

and Samantha Quon. It was re-released under the title "Four Wedding Planners."

Short films, web series and music videos

Kang has also directed the short films ''A Waiter Tomorrow'' (1998), a spoof on

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...

's ''

A Better Tomorrow ''A Better Tomorrow'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong crime action film directed and co-written by John Woo, and starring Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat. The film had a profound influence on Hong Kong action cinema, and has been recognised as ...

'' but set within a restaurant (which he also stars in), as well as ''Japanese Cowboy'' (2000), starring John Fukuda. Kang has also directed multiple episodes of the web series '' Easy to Assemble'' starring

(who he would later collaborate with again in ''4 Wedding Planners'') as well as the web series ''Suite 7''. Kang has also co-written a short film directed by Charles Mehling entitled ''For The First Time'' (2010). Michael was also a participant in the 1998 “Say Something” Virgin Cola campaign in which mostly unscripted citizens stood on soap boxes and expressed personal views. Mike politicked for more Asian men to be featured dancing in music videos. (1998) Kang has also starred as "the Delivery Man" in

Greg Pak Greg Pak is an American comic book writer and film director. Pak is best known for his work on books published by Marvel Comics, including ''X-Men'' (most notably '' X-Treme X-Men''), several titles featuring the Hulk (including ''Planet Hulk'', w ...

's short film, ''Asian Pride Porn'' (2000). Kang has also directed

Emi Meyer Emi Meyer (born March 1987) is a Japanese-born, American-raised jazz pianist and singer-songwriter who is based in Seattle and Tokyo and active in both the Japanese and American markets. Background Meyer was born in Kyoto, Japan, but grew up in ...

's music video for her track, "Happy Song" in 2011.Happy Song, Emi Meyer, http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/Omj8eYFgvBY/search/emi

Accolades

Kang was honored with a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Artist’s Residency Grant at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...

. He is recipient of the Geri Ashur Award in screenwriting through the New York Foundation for the Arts. He also received a fellowship through the ABC / DGA New Talent Television Directing Program. Kang is also a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

References

External links

Official Site4 Wedding Planners official siteThe Motel official siteWest 32nd official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Michael 1970 births Living people American film directors of Korean descent American writers of Korean descent Film directors from Rhode Island