Nicholas Ma (born circa 1983) is a film director and producer who is best known for producing the 2018 award-winning documentary '' Won't You Be My Neighbor?.'' He was born around 1983 to

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

and Jill Hornor. He has one sibling, Emily Ma who was born around 1985. Nicholas Ma attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and graduated in 2005. He went on to work at the

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

at both their

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

locations. He also worked with

Senator John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he pr ...

on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee focusing on global economic policy. In 2013, he left McKinsey & Company. He later went back to school and attended

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

and received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

in Film & Television in 2017. Ma, alongside

Morgan Neville Morgan Neville (born October 10, 1967) is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film '' 20 Feet from Stardom'' won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. H ...

and Caryn Capotosto, produced

's 2018 award-winning documentary '' Won't You Be My Neighbor?.'' Ma and Neville had interacted before on Neville's 2015 documentary ''The Music of Strangers,'' which was about the

Silk Road Ensemble Silkroad, formerly the Silk Road Project, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization, initiated by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and ...

formed by Ma's father. In 2019, Ma's 15 minute documentary short ''SUITE NO. 1, PRELUDE'' was shown at DOCNYC, which focused on his father's re-recording of the first cello piece he learned. Also in 2019, Ma's first feature film ''Mabel'' won the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award of $100,000 and was also supported by the

Tribeca Film Institute The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a year-round non-profit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, based in New York. The Tribeca Film Institute was created in 2003 in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI ta ...

s' Sloan Filmmaker Fund. ''Mabel'' focuses on a young child's friendship with a potted plant and her teacher who introduced her to

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

. ''Mabel'' was co-written with Joy Goodwin. Actors such as

Christine Ko Christine Ko (born August 3, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American actress, known for her roles as Emma on the CBS sitcom '' The Great Indoors'', Mandy on ''Upload'' and Emma on ''Dave''. Before her success in America, she had a brief career in Taiwa ...

Judy Greer Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress, who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She first rose to prominence in a variety of suppor ...

, and Lexi Perkel are all slated to star in ''Mabel''. In 2022, Ma worked with

Alison Klayman Alison Klayman (born 1984) is an American filmmaker and journalist best known for her award-winning 2012 documentary '' Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry''. Life and career Klayman grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Brown University in 2006 wi ...

on the documentary ''Unfinished Business,'' which focused on the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

women's basketball team and the WNBA. ''Unfinished Business'' was shown at the 2022

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Nicholas American documentary film directors American documentary film producers Harvard College alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni McKinsey & Company people American people of Chinese descent 1983 births Living people