Michael Toshiyuki Uno has spent two-thirds of his time on the planet involved in filmmaking. He began his film career in the bicentennial year of 1976 in the Washington, DC area, where he got his start in documentaries and educational narratives. He worked on two PBS 6-part series’ featuring Asian American themes & subject-matter, “PACIFIC BRIDGES” (1976) and “PEARLS” (1978); and later culminated his DC journey in 1980 with a National Daytime Emmy Award for Best Daytime Dramatic Special (ironically enough, with a Korean-American lead actress, Suzanne Whang). Later that year, he entered the American Film Institute (AFI) as a Directing Fellow, which culminated two years later with his receiving an Academy Award Nomination in Live Action Short for his 1982 AFI film, “THE SILENCE”. He became a Director member of the Directors Guild of America in 1984, and in that capacity has directed 15 cable movies & telefilms, and 12 network & cable episodes.

 

Michael was one of the very first pioneering Asian American narrative filmmakers, and his theatrically-released independent feature “THE WASH” (1988) achieved three IFP Award nominations — Best First Feature, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress — from the Independent Feature Project (now Film Independent). Among numerous other honors, “THE WASH” also received the Audience Award at the 1988 Hawaiian International Film Festival. Michael has been nominated three times for Best Director in the ACE Awards (Cable Emmys when they were separate), for the mini-series “HOME FIRES” (Showtime Network), the anthology special “VIETNAM WAR STORY — AN OLD GHOST WALKS THE EARTH” (HBO), and the cable movie “WITHOUT WARNING: THE JAMES BRADY STORY” (HBO). He also earned a DGA Award Best Director Nomination for one of his first DGA efforts, “THE WAR BETWEEN THE CLASSES”, which also won a National Daytime Emmy for Best Daytime Dramatic Special.

 

During his career, Michael has interacted with a consistently high level of professional talent. He has directed a dozen actresses & actors that have at one time or another achieved at least one Academy Award nomination: Mako, Joan Allen, Laura Linney, Cicely Tyson, Joanne Woodward, Piper Laurie, Tess Harper, David Strathairn, Eric Roberts, Paul Winfield, Juliette Lewis, and Michelle Williams. He has directed numerous others who have achieved awards or nominations for Emmy & ACE Awards, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and other major honors. This list includes such notables as Beau Bridges (Emmy, ACE & Golden Globe Best Actor for “WITHOUT WARNING”),  Nobu McCarthy (IFP Best Actress Nominee for “THE WASH”), Wesley Snipes (Best Actor Winner, ACE Awards), Peter Strauss, (Emmy winner & 5-time Golden Globe Nominee), Nicollette Sheridan, Penny Johnson, Barry Corbin, Steven Root, Rick Schroder; and numerous other well-known industry veterans.

 

While Michael professes to personally favor the creative use of the camera, it is thus well-established that he has always been something of “an actor’s Director”, which experience he hopes to bring to bear in his guidance of & involvement with “PAPER TIGERS”. In 2001, Michael turned to teaching while shifting focus to development & screenwriting; and in 2002, began teaching Directing and film production at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. He taught there since 2002, becoming full-time in 2005; and since then served 3 & 1/2 years each as Head of the Directing Track, and Director of Graduate Studies. It was during this time that he became acquainted with Nate Ellis in the renowned 546 Film Production class, which most recently counts as distinguished alumni both Ryan Coogler (“BLACK PANTHER” 1 & 2, “CREED”) and Stephen Caple (“CREED TWO”).

 

Michael retired from USC in 2020, but has continued to teach in Vietnam and China, both in-person and on-line. He maintains a personal focus on projects dealing with the Asian American experience and/or subject matter. Needless to say, he is delighted with the opportunity to re-unite with a former student, and looks forward to once again being able to mentor & join forces with Nate Ellis — for whom he carries the greatest respect — on such a worthwhile project as “PAPER TIGERS”.