Jessica Yu

Last updated

Jessica Yu
Jessica Yu, her mom and Julie Soo (DSC 5113) (cropped).jpg
Yu in 2010
Born1965or1966(age 57–58)
Alma mater Yale University
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer
Years active1993–present
Spouse Mark Salzman
Children2
Website www.jessicayu.net

Jessica Yu (born 1965or1966) is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. She has directed documentary films, dramatic films, and television shows.

Contents

Yu won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject in 1996 for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien (1996). [1] Yu's film Last Call at the Oasis (2012) is based upon Alex Prud'homme's Ripple Effect. Her more recent films have been: Misconception (2014), ForEveryone.Net (2016), a documentary film about the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and a Netflix comedy Maria Bamford: Old Baby (2017). In 2019, Yu was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Direction for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special" for the Fosse/Verdon episode "Glory".

Early life and education

Yu grew up in Los Altos Hills, California. Her father, Dr. Kou-ping Yu, an oncologist, was born in Shanghai. Her mother, Connie Young Yu, writer and historian, is a third-generation Californian.[ citation needed ]

Yu graduated from Gunn High School in Palo Alto.[ when? ] She was a reporter for the school newspaper, The Oracle. [2]

She went on to attend Yale University, where she was a two-time NCAA All-American and three-time All-Ivy in fencing. [3] As a world-class foilist, she was a member of the Junior World Team and the United States national team at the World Championships and World University Games.[ citation needed ] Yu graduated from Yale University in 1987 [4] summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa,[ citation needed ] with a bachelor's degree in English. [5]

Career

After graduation, Yu thought of pursuing law school like her peers. However, her father discouraged her from doing so. [6] She discovered film production while searching for a job that allowed flexible hours to allow her to compete in fencing. She started as a production assistant in 1989 [3] on a few commercials, where she got to arrange frozen noodles on forks and re-park cars. When she started working in documentary, she became further intrigued by the process. [7] Yu refused to attend film school and gained her film education on the job. She focuses on making documentaries but says that one day she'd love to make a fully animated comedy feature. [7] The opportunity to make film is a random occurrence for Yu. [8] Her documentary films present worldwide issues that people face every day and allow the subjects to speak for themselves as much as possible. She is adamant that story should come before politics. [1] Her films intend to inform the general public to incite people to become active in everyday issues such as water conservation and regulation. [9] When not making documentaries and feature films, Yu spends time directing television shows.

1990s

Yu began her career in 1993 with her short Sour Death Balls, a silent black-and-white montage of assorted subjects’ reactions to blindingly bitter candy, which was shot on an old school Bell & Howell wind-up camera. [1] She got her inspirations from daily interactions in her life, i.e. when a child offered local people sour candy. Yu sent the short film to film festivals, and it became her first feature at the Telluride Film Festival in 1993. [10] Yu made her first documentary, Men of Reenaction (1994), which explores the extremes of people searching for authenticity through Civil War reenacting. [11]

Her most famous work was her Academy Award-winning Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien. The documentary short features Berkeley writer Mark O'Brien, a disabled poet with an iron lung. His editor at the Pacific News Service, Sandy Close, introduced the pair and suggested that a film be made. [6] [12] It debuted at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and won several honors, including the International Documentary Association Achievement Award for Best Documentary, before the Academy Awards. [3]

2000s

In the 2000s, Yu's chance to work in episodic TV came when she received an invitation to apprentice at John Wells Productions as the first participant of their director diversity program. Shadowing directors, Yu sensed she was a guinea pig. “If you screw this up,” she told herself, “they’ll never let another woman of color from documentaries do this again.” [1] While working for Wells’ production company, she began directing in television for shows like Grey's Anatomy and The West Wing. [3] On her first directorial assignment, an episode of The West Wing, Yu was heartened that Wells encouraged her stylistic input. “He made a point of saying, ‘You should bring your own ideas to the table,’ rather than just follow prescribed formula.” So she decided to open with a series of mood-establishing low, wide-angle shots to signal the calm before the gathering storm. [1]

She directed a sport comedy film, Ping Pong Playa (2007), that explored Asian family culture through a Chinese ping pong playing son that is trying to prove himself to his family. Her producer friends Joan Huang and Jeff Guo approached her with the idea of working on a comedy together. They felt the time was right to have an obnoxious Asian American character on the screen. Yu and her comrades felt that Asian American cinema had plenty of good dramas and wanted to fill the void of superficial comedy. [7] She tried to bring the same loose hand and adaptability she used for documentaries to scripted material. Her approach to Ping Pong Playa was to “have a lighter touch, especially with actors” to give them a sense of freedom. [1]

2010s

In her later documentaries such as Last Call at The Oasis (2011) and Misconception (2014), Yu focused on capturing the big picture and understanding how these issues intertwined with other aspects of life such as climate, population, and the environment. [13] Last Call at The Oasis addresses the water crisis in the United States, and working on the film made her consider the impact of the crisis on her children and their children. This project became more personal to Yu and compelled her to complete it. It took six months of research prior to filming, as Yu wanted to create the big picture of the facts and threats of the water crisis in the domestic United States.

Last Call at the Oasis inspired Yu to direct her 2014 documentary Misconception, which paints the population issues from a person-to-person point of view. While filming Last Call at the Oasis people questioned the purpose of acting on water conservation because they cannot control the population growth affecting it. Her main goal is to take this topic and tie with emotionally, entertaining, and interesting stories. [14]

The majority of her work after 2015 has been focused on television production and directing. For Netflix, she directed episodes of the dramas 13 Reasons Why and Hollywood and did Maria Bamford's comedy special Old Baby.

2020s

Jessica's work in the 2020s includes directing a number of television drama series. This Is Us (Don't Let Me Keep You, 2021), The Morning Show (Kill the Fatted Calf, 2021), In Treatment (Brooke, Laila, Colins, Eladio, 2021).

Personal life

Yu is married to author Mark Salzman. They and their daughters, Ava and Esme, live in Los Angeles.[ citation needed ]

Jessica has an older sister, Jennifer Yu, a technical publications manager, and a younger brother, Martin Yu, an actor.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Short films

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerEditor
1990Rose Kennedy: A Life to RememberNoNoAssociateNo
1993Sour Deaths BallsYesNoNoNo
1996 Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien YesYesYesYes
1998Better LateYesYesNoYes
2009The Kinda SutraYesNoNoNo
2012Meet Mr. ToiletYesNoYesNo
Focus Forward: Short Films, Big IdeasYesNoNoNo
2014We the Economy: 20 Short Films, Big IdeasYesNoNoNo
2016James Turrell: You Who LookYesNoNoNo
ForEveryone.NetYesYesYesNo

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerEditorNotes
1994 Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision NoNoAssociateNo
The ConductorYesNoYesNo
1995 Picture Bride NoUncreditedNoNoScript advisor
1996Men of ReenactionYesYesNoYes
1998The Living MuseumYesYesNoYes
2004 In the Realms of the Unreal YesYesYesYes
2007 Protagonist YesYesYesYes
Ping Pong Playa YesYesNoNo
2012Last Call at the OasisYesYesYesNo
2013The GuideYesNoNoYes
2014 Misconception YesNoNoNo
2017Maria Bamford: Old BabyYesNoNoNo
2023 Quiz Lady YesNoNoNo

TV Series

YearTitleNotes
2001-2004 The West Wing 3 episodes
2002 ER Episode "Bygones"
2003 The Guardian Episode "You Belong to Me"
Mister Sterling Episode "The Sins of the Father"
The Lyon's Den Episode "Ex"
2004 American Dreams Episode "Real-to-Reel"
2006-2011 Grey's Anatomy 6 episodes
2012 Scandal Episode "Blown Away"
2012-2014 Parenthood 4 episodes
2015-2017 American Crime 3 episodes
2016 Castle 2 episodes
Lady Dynamite Episode "Mein Ramp"
Pure Genius Episode "You Must Remember This"
2017 Ten Days in the Valley Episode "Day 4: Below the Line"
2017-2019 13 Reasons Why 6 episodes
Also consulting producer (4 episodes)
2018 I'm Dying Up Here Episode "Deathbed Confessions"
The Affair Episode "405"
Sorry for Your Loss Episode "Jackie O. and Courtney Love"
2018-2019 Billions 2 episodes
2019 The Rookie Episode "Flesh and Blood"
Fosse/Verdon Episode "Glory"
Bluff City Law Also executive producer;
Episode "Pilot"
2019 This Is Us 3 episodes
Stumptown Episode "The Other Woman"
2020 Hollywood Episode "A Hollywood Ending"
Ratched Episode "Got No Strings"
2021 Walker Episode "Pilot"
This Is Us Episode "The Music and the Mirror"
The Morning Show Episode "Kill the Fatted Calf"
2022 This Is Us Episode "Don't Let Me Keep You"
2023 Citadel 2 episodes
American Horror Story: Delicate Episode: "Multiple Thy Pain"

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
1995 International Documentary Association IDA Award89 mm od EuropyWon
1996Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’BrienWon
1997 Academy Awards Director of Best Documentary Short SubjectBreathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’BrienWon
Shorts International Film FestivalBest Short FilmWon
Asian American International Film Festival Asian Media AwardWon
1999 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: DocumentaryThe Living MuseumNominated
2002Online Film & Television AssociationOFTA Television Award: Best Direction in a Drama SeriesThe West WingNominated
2004 Gotham Awards Best DocumentaryIn the Realms of the UnrealNominated
Ojai Film FestivalBest Documentary FeatureWon
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: DocumentaryNominated
Vancouver International Film Festival Best Documentary FeatureWon
2005 Writers Guild of America, USADocumentary Screenplay AwardNominated
2006 Primetime Emmy Awards Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction FilmmakingNominated
2007 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: DocumentaryProtagonistNominated
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Robert and Frances Flaherty PrizeNominated
2012 Tokyo International Film Festival Earth Grand PrixLast Call at the OasisNominated
SXSW Film Festival Audience AwardNominated
2013 Aspen Shortsfest Audience RecognitionThe GuideWon
Hamburg International Short Film FestivalFriese AwardSour Death BallsNominated
2014 Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Misconception Nominated
2019 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special Fosse/Verdon Nominated

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Westfeldt</span> American actress, writer, producer, and director (born 1970)

Jennifer Westfeldt is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film Kissing Jessica Stein, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress - Comedy or Musical. She is also known for writing, producing, starring in, and making her directorial debut in the 2012 indie film, Friends with Kids, which was included on New York Magazine's Top Ten Movies of 2012 list, as well as NPR's Top 12 of 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Paré</span> Canadian actress

Jessica Paré is a Canadian actress and musician known for her co-starring roles on the AMC series Mad Men and the CBS series SEAL Team. She has also appeared in the films Stardom (2000), Lost and Delirious (2001), Wicker Park (2004), Suck (2009), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), and Brooklyn (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Fan</span> American actor

Roger Fan is a Taiwanese-American film, theater, and television actor best known for his collaborations with Justin Lin and his appearances in the films Annapolis, Finishing the Game and Better Luck Tomorrow.

Shannon Esra is a South African actress and singer.

Ping-pong, or table tennis, is a sport where players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table.

Jessica Blank is an American actress, writer, and director who works in film, television, and theater. She is also a consultant and public speaker on story and social change.

The Deposition (<i>The Office</i>) 12th episode of the 4th season of The Office

"The Deposition" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's sixty-fifth episode overall. Written by consulting producer Lester Lewis and directed by Julian Farino, the episode originally aired in the United States on November 15, 2007, on NBC. "The Deposition" was the last original episode of the show to air before the show went on hiatus due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.

<i>Ping Pong Playa</i> 2007 American film

Ping Pong Playa is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Jessica Yu and written by Yu and Jimmy Tsai. The story centers on a Chinese ping pong family living in California with a buffoonish and irreverent son.

<i>Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark OBrien</i> 1996 film

Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien is a 1996 American short documentary film directed by Jessica Yu. It won an Oscar at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997 for Documentary Short Subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Morales (actress)</span> American actress and director

Natalie Morales is an American actress and director. She starred in the 2008 ABC Family series The Middleman and had a main role in 2009 on the first season of the USA Network series White Collar. In 2010, she appeared in the feature films Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Going the Distance. Morales also had a starring role in the Fox comedy series The Grinder, the NBC sitcom Abby's, and recurring roles in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, HBO's The Newsroom, as well as the Netflix series Dead to Me.

Misconception may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Henwick</span> British actress (born 1992)

Jessica Yu-Li Henwick is a British actress, writer and director. She began her career in 2010 and is best known for her roles in Game of Thrones, Iron Fist, Love and Monsters, The Matrix Resurrections, The Gray Man, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and The Royal Hotel. Her directorial debut Bus Girl was nominated for a BAFTA.

<i>Ping Pong</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Po-Chih Leong

Ping Pong is a 1986 British comedy mystery film directed by Po-Chih Leong. It stars David Yip, Lucy Sheen, and Robert Lee. The film was produced by Picture Palace Films for Film Four International. Sheen in her debut role plays Elaine Choi, a law clerk brought in to carry out the will of a prominent restaurateur. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

<i>The Sessions</i> (2012 film) 2012 American film

The Sessions is a 2012 American drama film written and directed by Ben Lewin. It is based on the 1990 article "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate" by Mark O'Brien, a poet paralyzed from the neck down due to polio, who hired a sex surrogate to lose his virginity. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt star as O'Brien and sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noël Wells</span> American actress

Noël Kristi Wells is an American actress, writer, director, and musician. Wells is known for her television roles as Rachel Silva in the Netflix comedy-drama Master of None (2015–2017), as the voice of Kelsey Pokoly in the Cartoon Network animated television series Craig of the Creek (2018–present), as the voice of Ensign D'Vana Tendi in the Paramount+ animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–present), and her brief tenure as a featured player on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live during its 39th season between 2013 and 2014. She also wrote, directed, and starred in the film Mr. Roosevelt (2017). Outside of comedy and acting, Wells has also ventured into music; her debut album It's So Nice! was released in 2019.

<i>Ping Pong Summer</i> 2014 American film

Ping Pong Summer is a 2014 American independent coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Michael Tully. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Yu Ling</span> Singapore-born actress

Barbara Lee, who used the stage name Barbara Yu Ling, was a Singapore-born actress of stage, screen, and television who was based in Britain from the 1950s. One of the first Singaporean Chinese actresses to gain attention in Europe, she appeared in productions of Madame Butterfly and The World of Suzie Wong. Among the films she appeared in were The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), Ping Pong (1986), and Peggy Su! (1997).

Kim Roberts, A.C.E., is an American filmmaker who has worked primarily on documentaries as a film editor and writer. Roberts has a master's degree in documentary film production from Stanford University (1996). Her first credit as an editor was for Long Night's Journey into Day (2000), which was directed by Deborah Hoffmann and Frances Reid and that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. She was credited as both an editor and writer for Great Wall Across the Yangtze (2000), which was directed by Ellen Perry. Her work since then and several of her honors are sketched in the filmography below. Roberts was featured in a New York Times article on film editing in 2012. She has been selected for membership in the American Cinema Editors, which entitles editors to append "A.C.E." to their film credits.

Brooke Bloom is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Ronah in the drama film She's Lost Control (2014).

<i>One Deadly Summer</i> (novel)

One Deadly Summer is a psychological suspense novel by Sébastien Japrisot, originally published in French as L'Été meurtrier in 1977. It received the 1978 Prix des Deux Magots in France. Japrisot also scripted the 1983 film adaptation directed by Jean Becker and starring Isabelle Adjani.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lowenstein, Lael (Fall 2012). "Finding Her Way". DGA Quarterly. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  2. "Welcome to the 50th Volume of the Oracle". The Oracle. Gunn High School. September 17, 2012. p. 13. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Fry, Nathan (2002). "2002 Alumni Spotlight: Jessica Yu". The Ivy League. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. Belli, Brita (September 18, 2019). "Showcasing Yale women in film, who fought for legitimacy on two fronts". YaleNews. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  5. Dawson, Nick (April 17, 2012). "The Weight of Water: An Interview with Jessica Yu". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Inoue, Todd S. "Learning to Breathe". Metro Silicon Valley. No. May 22–28, 1997. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Indiewire (September 5, 2008). "indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Ping Pong Playa" Director Jessica Yu". IndieWire. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  8. "Interview with Jessica Yu". Joel Mora. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  9. "INTERVIEW with Jessica Yu". Filmwax Radio. May 16, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  10. w455 (April 25, 2011), The Jon Stewart Show - Jessica Yu, archived from the original on December 19, 2021, retrieved November 12, 2018{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. Yu, Jessica; Inscrutable Films (Firm); Independent Television Service (1995), Men of reenaction, Inscrutable Films, OCLC   53876608
  12. Times, The New York (July 11, 1999). "MARK O'BRIEN, 49, JOURNALIST WHO WROTE WHILE IN IRON LUNG". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  13. "INTERVIEW with Jessica Yu". Filmwax Radio. May 16, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  14. The Daily Quirk (January 7, 2015), An Exclusive Interview with Jessica Yu, archived from the original on December 19, 2021, retrieved November 13, 2018