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Chris Tashima
Actor, Director, Writer, Additional CreditsBorn March 24, 1960 (65 years)
Chris Tashima is an award-winning American actor and director. He has starred in numerous independent feature films, most notably as the romantic lead opposite Joan Chen, Allison Sie, Kelly Hu and Autumn Reeser, in Eric Byler's Americanese which won a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast at SXSW. He was awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role, at the inaugural Love International Film Festival, for his portrayal of Papa Nakaji in Tim Savage's World War II family drama Under the Blood Red Sun produced by Dana Satler Hankins. He portrayed real-life educator/activist Shigeo Yoshida in the 442nd RCT origin story Go For Broke from producer/screenwriter Stacey Hayashi. Most recently, he played the hard-nosed Uncle Bob in the generational family comedy No No Girl from writer/director Paul Daisuke Goodman--for which he received two nominations at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, and he plays Hiro in Brian M. Tang's action/fantasy short Kodama, receiving its world premiere at SXSW 2023.
Tashima received an Academy Award® for directing the dramatic short film Visas and Virtue, a re-telling of the heroic actions of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. In addition he co-wrote the screenplay adapting a one-act play by Tim Toyama, and starred as the Humanitarian diplomat Sugihara. He also directed, co-wrote and starred in the WWII Japanese American internment short film Day of Independence which was nominated for a NATAS Northern California Area Emmy®. These two directorial works came from Tashima's own Cedar Grove Productions, an indie entertainment house aiming to "Boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the close-up onscreen."
Tashima received an Academy Award® for directing the dramatic short film Visas and Virtue, a re-telling of the heroic actions of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. In addition he co-wrote the screenplay adapting a one-act play by Tim Toyama, and starred as the Humanitarian diplomat Sugihara. He also directed, co-wrote and starred in the WWII Japanese American internment short film Day of Independence which was nominated for a NATAS Northern California Area Emmy®. These two directorial works came from Tashima's own Cedar Grove Productions, an indie entertainment house aiming to "Boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the close-up onscreen."
Filmography
| 2022 | No No Girl · as Uncle Bob |
| 2018 | Surviving Theater 9 · as Professor Cambro |
| 2018 | Go for Broke · as Shigeo Yoshida |
| 2014 | Under the Blood-Red Sun · as Papa Nakaji |
| 2013 | Real Playing Game · as Mr. Chan |
| 2012 | Lil Tokyo Reporter · as Sei Fujii |
| 2012 | Model Minority · as Ken Tanaka |
| 2011 | It's a Kid's World · as Masamichi (segment "half Kenneth") |
| 2006 | Americanese · as Raymond Ding |
| 2006 | Peace · as Young Frank |
| 2002 | Barrier Device · as Actor In Diamond Jeweler Commercial |
| 2002 | The Shield (TV Series) · as Chris Yamamoto |
| 1999 | Independent Lens (TV Series) · as Chiune Sugihara (segment "visas And Virtue") |
| 1998 | Lani-Loa · as Bong |
| 1997 | Visas and Virtue · as Chiune 'sempo' Sugihara |
| 1997 | Strawberry Fields · as Mark |
| 1997 | Vital Signs (TV Series) · as Surgeon |
| 1991 | The Perfect Weapon · as Bag Man |
| 1987 | Overkill · as Nagumo Jr. |
| 1987 | Lethal Weapon · as Fire Rescue Attendant (uncredited) |
| 1987 | Unsolved Mysteries (TV Series) · as Stunt Coordinator (segment "brandon Lee") |
| 1986 | Night of the Creeps · as Extra |
| 1986 | The Karate Kid Part II · as The Rockabilly Club Dancer (uncredited) |
| 1985 | Once Bitten · as Dream Sequence Extra |
| 1985 | Generation · as Gang Extra |
| 1985 | Killzone · as Crawford's Men |
| 1985 | Moving Violations · as Parade Extra |
| 1985 | The Sure Thing · as Frat Guy At Punch Bowl |
| 1985 | Sara (TV Series) · as Concert Goer |
| 1985 | Scandal Sheet · as (uncredited) |
| 1985 | Not My Kid · as Student |
| 1985 | Savage Dawn · as Extra |
| 1985 | The Mechanical Universe (TV Series) · as Freefall Rider (segment "magic Mountain") |
| 1984 | Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo · as Club Patron |
| 1984 | 1st & Ten (TV Series) · as Reporter |
| 1984 | A Nightmare on Elm Street · as Boy In Nancy's English Class |
| 1984 | Highway to Heaven (TV Series) · as Camper's Dad |
| 1982 | St. Elsewhere (TV Series) · as Technician |
| 1981 | The Fall Guy (TV Series) · as Bar Patron |
| 1973 | The Young and the Restless (TV Series) · as Employee #2 |
| 1963 | General Hospital (TV Series) · as Street Bystander |