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Biography

Tony Lam is an independent filmmaker, freelance producer-director, and screenwriter based in L.A.

Tony recently directed VINCENT WHO?, a documentary about the legacy of the Vincent Chin murder case, which gave birth to the Asian American civil rights movement. Tony was motivated to make this film, because after 25 years, the APA community (not to mention the general public) still remains largely ignorant of this momentous movement – momentous not only in Asian American history, but also in American civil rights history.

As with VINCENT WHO?, Tony has largely dedicated his filmmaking and freelance career to promoting Asian Americans and Asian American stories. From 2006 to 2009, Tony produced the vignette series OUR ROLE MODELS for LA18, the largest Asian language TV station in the U.S. OUR ROLE MODELS featured outstanding Asians and Asian Americans who have made an important difference in the community and beyond, from celebrities like Justin Lin, David Henry Hwang, Dustin Nguyen and Teddy Zee to prominent leaders like John Chiang, Susan Ahn Cuddy and Michelle Park-Steel to the many unsung heroes in the community.

In 2009, Tony directed a short documentary, HAMA, celebrating the 70th birthday of Takeshi Hamagaki, a Japanese American who has greatly influenced American jazz dance. In 2008, Tony produced a video highlighting the career achievements of Ted Lieu, Charlie Woo, Julie Su, and Judge Robert Kwan. In 2007, Tony produced videos celebrating an art exhibition by international artist, Diana Shui-lu Wong, and promoting MIXED NUTZ, a pioneering multicultural cartoon with Persian and Korean characters. In 2006 and 2007, Tony served on the Mayor's Steering Committee for Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month (APAHM), and produced two APAHM public service announcements with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Through these and other Asian-themed projects, Tony has interviewed and featured nearly 200 leaders and talents in the APA community.

Tony has also honed his craft working on short films with Asian American talent. He wrote, directed, and produced BIRTHDAY PARTY and DING DONG. BIRTHDAY PARTY screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and was singled out as a staff favorite. Tony has also produced the short films, SAFE and 10,000 APOLOGIES TO MY ANCESTORS. In addition, Tony has written several screenplays, including PABLO NERUDA LEMONS, which won the Finalist Award at the Moondance International Film Festival.

Tony graduated valedictorian of his high school and studied literature and history at Georgetown University, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors in both majors. Tony has Masters degrees from Yale University (East Asian Studies) and the University of Michigan (Asian History). He has received over a dozen merit scholarships and awards, including the internationally-prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, a full scholarship at Yale, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (a rare three-time recipient).

Tony is an avid traveler, who has visited many places around the world, including living in Asia for several years. While residing in Hong Kong in 1997 during the historic handover, Tony's life became the subject of a documentary called MOVING POPULATION: NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN, produced by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), shot in three countries, and broadcast primetime in Hong Kong, Southern China, and Macau. This fortuitous experience gave Tony his first intimate exposure to media production.

As a child, Tony’s parents could not afford him the luxury of many toys, so Tony amused himself by prolifically writing short stories and plays, drawing comic books, crafting all sorts of games, and creating elaborate, character-driven fantasy worlds with his brother that existed only in their shared imaginations. So while Tony grew up in a family of modest means, he rarely felt deprived, because his restless imagination kept him richly entertained.

Moreover, his parents gave him gifts worth far more than toys. From his parents, Tony inherited a narrative universe. Often at the evening dinner table, amidst steaming bowls of rice, Tony would listen to his father recite countless classical poems from memory or tell riveting stories that lasted well past dessert. His father depicted episodes from the Chinese classic, THE ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, so vividly Tony could see the heroic battles raging. At other times, his father recounted his own “Indiana Jones” adventures through the turbulent, war-torn decades of twentieth-century China, such as the time when sea pirates attacked the steamer he was on, and he stuffed his valuables into a banana to prevent them from being taken.

Tony’s mother had her own stories to tell. She would recollect her coming of age during the first Communist decade in China—the initial excitement, the endless campaigns, and the pain of watching her proud father persecuted and forced to sweep the streets. And she would recall how for years she played the Communist stalwart, while secretly planning her escape unbeknownst to even her own family. Outwitting the authorities, she ultimately made a harrowing escape to Hong Kong, hidden under the planks of a fishing boat.

This environment of constant storytelling formed the webwork of Tony’s childhood and fueled his imagination.