1. Dayyan Eng, known as Wu Shixian in China, born in Taiwan in 1975, is a Chinese-American filmmaker of Chinese, English, and Persian ancestry, who grew up in three continents.
13 Facts About Dayyan Eng
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Dayyan Eng studied film arts at the University of Washington and transferred to the Beijing Film Academy, where he finished his undergraduate studies in directing.
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Dayyan Eng first won awards and recognition at the Venice Film Festival, Sundance and Cannes film festivals for his film Bus 44, and for his acclaimed romantic-comedy Waiting Alone.
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Dayyan Eng is the first American to direct a Chinese feature film; the first foreign director invited into the China Film Director's Guild; and made history as the first and only foreign director to date to have a film nominated for Best Picture at the Chinese academy awards.
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In 2001, Dayyan Eng wrote and directed Bus 44 starring Chinese film star Gong Beibi.
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In 2005, Dayyan Eng wrote, produced, and directed a Chinese independent feature film Waiting Alone, starring an ensemble cast of Chinese stars including Xia Yu, Li Bingbing, Gong Beibi and featuring cameos from some of Asia's most well-known actors including Chow Yun-fat.
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Dayyan Eng was invited, in 2007, to direct the first-ever opening short for the Chinese academy awards.
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Dayyan Eng got some of Asia's biggest stars, Ziyi Zhang, Liu Ye, Huang Bo and Ge You, to spoof the action-movie genre in a humorous send-up on national TV in China.
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In 2011, Dayyan Eng wrote, directed, and produced Inseparable starring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, Daniel Wu, Gong Beibi, Yan Ni, and Peter Stormare.
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In 2015, Dayyan Eng was invited to be on the five-member jury of the prestigious China Film Director's Guild Awards.
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In 2017, Dayyan Eng directed the indie fantasy-comedy Wished, which beat local box office estimates at the time to gross RMB$70 million in two weeks.
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The film was optioned in 2019 to be remade into a Hollywood film, with Dayyan Eng attached to executive produce.
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Dayyan Eng is multilingual, and reads and writes English, Chinese, and Persian.