Evan Jackson Leong (or Evan Leong) is a director and documentary filmmaker. Leong is likely most known for his documentary '' Linsanity'' about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He has also directed the documentary '' 1040: Christianity in the New Asia'' (2010), and the documentary short ''BLT Genesis'' (2002), which tracks the behind-the-scenes making of and trajectory of

Justin Lin Justin Lin (, born October 11, 1971) is a Taiwanese-American film director. His films have grossed US$2.3 billion worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on '' Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002), the ''Fast & Furious'' f ...

's film, '' Better Luck Tomorrow''.

Early life

Leong is a sixth-generation Chinese American. Leong grew up in the

Richmond District, San Francisco The Richmond District is a neighborhood in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California, developed initially in the late 19th century. It is sometimes confused with the city of Richmond, which is northeast of San Francisco. The Richmond i ...

, California.

Education

Leong earned a bachelor's degree in Asian American Studies from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

Career

Films and documentaries

Leong directed the documentary '' Linsanity'' about Jeremy Lin, which screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.Linsanity Review
The Hollywood Reporter The documentary was also produced by Brian Yang as well as Christopher Chen, Allen Lu, Patricia Sun, James D. Stern and Sam Kwok. The documentary was several years in the making, and Leong started following Lin when he still played basketball at

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 high ...

. When the film screened at Sundance, it received positive reviews from the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, and many more publications. Leong has also directed the feature-length documentary '' 1040: Christianity in the New Asia'' (2010), a documentary that chronicles the rapid changes in Asia and the significant shift in the spiritual landscape in the area known as the “10/40 Window”- the region between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude on the eastern hemisphere. Leong has also directed, from a script he has written, the drama ''Snakehead'' which was initially slated to star

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has sta ...

in a story about the underworld of human smuggling that takes place on the streets of New York City's Chinatown. Later Kickstarter campaigns of the film reveal that the lead actress has been switched from Lucy Liu to Shuya Chang (playing the main character of Sister Tse), and actors such as

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 ...

(playing a character named Rambo) and

Jade Wu Jade Wu (born January 5, 1953) Chinese-American actress, playwright, producer, director, and editor who was born in Japan. She is the granddaughter of actor and director, Yuanlong Wang, who is known for his work in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. ...

(playing a character named Dai Mah) have been added to the cast. The film was also produced by '' Linsanity'' producer Brian Yang.

Short films and music videos

Among the other films Leong has directed include the short film, ''Manivore'' (2009) (starring Grace Su and

C.S. Lee Charles Seung-hee Lee (; born December 30, 1971), known professionally as C. S. Lee, is an American actor and comedian. He is perhaps best known for playing sex-obsessed forensics analyst Vince Masuka on the Showtime drama series ''Dexter''. ...

), and the documentary short ''BLT: Genesis'' (2002), which chronicles the making of and the rise of

's film, '' Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002). For ''BLT: Genesis'', Leong won a Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the 2002

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 ...

. Leong also directed the short film ''Suckerball 73'' as a

Visual Communications Visual Communications (also known as VC) –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were st ...

"Armed with a Camera" fellowship film, which screened at the 2003

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 ...

(or VC Film Fest as it was known back then). Leong also directed a short documentary entitled ''Him Mark Lai: The People's Historian'' (2005) and a short PSA on the

Asian Law Caucus Founded in 1972, the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) is the U.S.'s first legal aid and civil rights organization serving the low-income Asian Pacific American communities. The ALC focuses housing rights, immigration and immigrant rights, labor and empl ...

entitled ''Empowering Communities: Asian Law Caucus in Action'' (2010). Leong also directed the "Fists of Fuhrer" segment in

's '' Finishing the Game'' starring Roger Fan as Breeze Loo,

Nathan Jung Nathan Jung (November 29, 1946 – April 24, 2021) was an American actor and stuntman. Due to his height, he was usually cast in "heavy" or "enforcer" roles. Career Television Jung played the character of Genghis Khan on ''Star Trek: The Origina ...

as "Bob," Aiko Tanaka, and Nikita Esco (credited as Natalie Susko), with choreography from Don Thai. Leong's banner is known as Arowana Films. He has also directed a number of music videos that have screened on MTV and other outlets for groups such as

Far East Movement Far East Movement (abbreviated FM) is an American hip hop and electronic music group based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2003 and as of August 2018 consists of Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), DJ Virman (Virman Coquia), ...

(music videos for the tracks "Round Round" and "Satisfaction" on '' The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift'' soundtrack; "Western", "Work Bounce" and "Far East Futura"),

MC Jin Jin Au-Yeung (; born June 4, 1982), known professionally as MC Jin, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor and comedian of Chinese descent. Jin is notable for being the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label ...

(the tracks "Yum Dom Cha" and "Li Li Luan"/"Li Li Chaos"),

Lyrics Born Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura (born September 2, 1972), better known by his stage name Lyrics Born (formerly Asia Born), is a Japanese-American rapper, singer, and producer. He is one half of the duo Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker. Early life Shim ...

(the tracks "Last Trumpet" and "Bad Dreams"), and Estairy ("Hands Up" also feat. Equipto). He also co-Directed, with Michelle Phan, the Paris-shot ''Rouge in Love'', which has accumulated close to 3 million views on YouTube and was scored by George Shaw. Leong also used to be a segment producer for MTV News starting from 2010.Eric Ditzia
Jeremy Lin Schools His NBA Haters In 'Linsanity' Doc Director Evan Jackson Leong tells MTV News he 'wanted to show the evolution' of how Lin dealt with racism
MTV News

Producing and other work

Leong was a field producer on the political documentary, '' ...So Goes the Nation'' (2006) and has also assisted with or worked in the production department of films directed by

including '' Finishing the Game'' (2007) (Co-Producer, Post Production Coordinator, 2nd Unit Director), '' The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift'' (2006) (where he was also Justin Lin's assistant), and '' Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002) (where he was an Assistant Editor and also played the role of the "Slapper's Boyfriend"; he also directed a "behind-the-scenes" short documentary about the film entitled ''BLT:Genesis''). Leong is also a cinematographer and

Steadicam Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement, keeping th ...

operator, having done additional camera work on the documentary short ''Spotlighting'' (2005) directed by

References

External links

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Compiled Reels for Evan Jackson LeongArowana Films - Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leong, Evan Jackson American film directors of Chinese descent Living people Film directors from San Francisco Year of birth missing (living people)