Wayne Wang Movies and Career Information

Wayne Wang (born January 12, 1949) is a Chinese American film director. Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne. When he was 17, he moved to the United States with the intention of studying towards eventually entering medical school, but Wang changed his mind and ended up in the arts, studying film and television at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Chan Is Missing (1982) and Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985) established his reputation. He is best known for The Joy Luck Club (1993), Maid in Manhattan (2002), and the independent features Smoke (1995) and Anywhere but Here (1999). At the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, Wang premiered two feature films, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Princess of Nebraska, as well as appearing in the Arthur Dong documentary film Hollywood Chinese. He won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2007 for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. He is married to a former Miss Hong Kong, Cora Miao, and lives in San Francisco and New York City.