Wayne Wang

Directing

Wayne Wang

Born

1949-01-12 (77)

Place of birth

Hong Kong,China

Known for

Directing

Credits

43 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wayne Wang (born January 12, 1949) is a Chinese American film director. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wayne Wang, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Maid in Manhattan poster
6.1

Marisa Ventura is a struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son. One fateful day, hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall meets Marisa and mistakes her for a wealthy socialite. After an enchanting evening together, the two fall madly in love. But when Marisa's true identity is revealed, issues of class and social status threaten to separate them. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their differences and live happily ever after?

Maid in Manhattan

2002

Last Holiday poster
7.3

The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted department store saleswoman Georgia Byrd to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. With weeks to live, she withdraws her life savings, sells all her possessions and jets off to Europe where she lives it up at a posh hotel. Upbeat and passionate, Georgia charms everybody she meets, including renowned Chef Didier. The only one missing from her new life is her longtime crush Sean Williams.

Last Holiday

2006

Diary of a Mad Old Man poster
6.0

A seventy year old widow recovers from a stroke in the care of his dysfunctional family. While his body is failing him, his libido still rages on – unwittingly sparked by the attentions of his daughter-in-law, a dancer with a shady past.

Diary of a Mad Old Man

2026

Anywhere but Here poster
6.1

Single mother Adele August is bad with money, and even worse when it comes to making decisions. Her straight-laced daughter, Ann, is a successful high school student with Ivy League aspirations. When Adele decides to pack up and move the two of them from the Midwest to Beverly Hills, Calif., to pursue her dreams of Hollywood success, Ann grows frustrated with her mother's irresponsible and impulsive ways.

Anywhere but Here

1999

The Joy Luck Club poster
7.2

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

The Joy Luck Club

1993

Infernal Affairs poster
5.3

Mainland CID Officer JIANG ZIDAN (Wang Yang), nicknamed “BULLET”, infiltrates a Hong Kong triad group in an attempt to investigate a cross-border drug trafficking case and encounters Hong Kong narcotics inspector WAI CHUN-HIN (Him Law) and female officer CHAN YUET-KI (Cecilia So). The swift and smart BULLET is favoured by the triad leader WU KOON-YAU (Damian Lau), but he is not aware that CHUN-HIN is the trusted one of the triad’s deputy leader HON LONG (Gallen Lo). The kidnapping of WU’s daughter WU KA-LAM (Jolie Zhu) quickly stirs up long-standing conflicts between HON LONG and KOON-YAU and further fuels their antagonism. CHUN-HIN employs police resources to rescue KA-LAM without authorisation and is dismissed, but in secret he still keeps in touch with narcotics officer SO CHING (Toby Leung). HON LONG, trying to arrogate all the power, does all he can, even in collaboration with outsiders, to get rid of any opposition or possible threat. On the surface, he works closely with BULLET and CHUN-HIN, but what lies underneath is indeed immeasurable power struggle, causing endless rivalry between the good and the evil, among these “frenemies”…

Infernal Affairs

2016

Film credits

2000s · 3 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Maid in Manhattan poster
6.1

Marisa Ventura is a struggling single mom who works at a posh Manhattan hotel and dreams of a better life for her and her young son. One fateful day, hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall meets Marisa and mistakes her for a wealthy socialite. After an enchanting evening together, the two fall madly in love. But when Marisa's true identity is revealed, issues of class and social status threaten to separate them. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their differences and live happily ever after?

Maid in Manhattan

2002

Last Holiday poster
7.3

The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted department store saleswoman Georgia Byrd to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. With weeks to live, she withdraws her life savings, sells all her possessions and jets off to Europe where she lives it up at a posh hotel. Upbeat and passionate, Georgia charms everybody she meets, including renowned Chef Didier. The only one missing from her new life is her longtime crush Sean Williams.

Last Holiday

2006

Diary of a Mad Old Man poster
6.0

A seventy year old widow recovers from a stroke in the care of his dysfunctional family. While his body is failing him, his libido still rages on – unwittingly sparked by the attentions of his daughter-in-law, a dancer with a shady past.

Diary of a Mad Old Man

2026

Anywhere but Here poster
6.1

Single mother Adele August is bad with money, and even worse when it comes to making decisions. Her straight-laced daughter, Ann, is a successful high school student with Ivy League aspirations. When Adele decides to pack up and move the two of them from the Midwest to Beverly Hills, Calif., to pursue her dreams of Hollywood success, Ann grows frustrated with her mother's irresponsible and impulsive ways.

Anywhere but Here

1999

The Joy Luck Club poster
7.2

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

The Joy Luck Club

1993

The Joy Luck Club poster
7.2

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

The Joy Luck Club

1993

Because of Winn-Dixie poster
6.5

A girl, abandoned by her mother when she was three, moves to a small town in Florida with her father. There, she adopts an orphaned dog she names Winn-Dixie. The bond between the girl and her special companion brings together the people in a small Florida town and heals her own troubled relationship with her father.

Because of Winn-Dixie

2005

Blue in the Face poster
6.5

A wacky group of locals visit the neighborhood cigar shop, looking for good times and finding plenty of hilarious fun. But when the greedy owner threatens to close the shop for good and turn it into a trendy vegetarian restaurant, the neighborhood proves they'll do just about anything to save their favorite hangout.

Blue in the Face

1995

Blue in the Face poster
6.5

A wacky group of locals visit the neighborhood cigar shop, looking for good times and finding plenty of hilarious fun. But when the greedy owner threatens to close the shop for good and turn it into a trendy vegetarian restaurant, the neighborhood proves they'll do just about anything to save their favorite hangout.

Blue in the Face

1995

Smoke poster
7.2

Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

Smoke

1995

Chinese Box poster
5.8

The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.

Chinese Box

1997

Chinese Box poster
5.8

The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.

Chinese Box

1997

The Center of the World poster
5.2

A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions. Is mutual attraction stirring?

The Center of the World

2001

The Center of the World poster
5.2

A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions. Is mutual attraction stirring?

The Center of the World

2001

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart poster
5.9

San Francisco's Richmond District. A widow welcomes the Chinese New Year. 62 years old, she wants to make a trip to China to pay last respects to her ancestors. A fortune teller has told her this is the year she'll die, and a daughter, Geraldine, remains unmarried. Geraldine's boyfriend lives in Los Angeles and she's not sure she's ready for marriage, nor does she want to leave her mother alone in her declining years. Mrs. Tan's cheerful brother-in-law, Uncle Tam, tries to help out.

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

1985

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart poster
5.9

San Francisco's Richmond District. A widow welcomes the Chinese New Year. 62 years old, she wants to make a trip to China to pay last respects to her ancestors. A fortune teller has told her this is the year she'll die, and a daughter, Geraldine, remains unmarried. Geraldine's boyfriend lives in Los Angeles and she's not sure she's ready for marriage, nor does she want to leave her mother alone in her declining years. Mrs. Tan's cheerful brother-in-law, Uncle Tam, tries to help out.

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

1985

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers poster
6.2

The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

2007

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers poster
6.2

The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

2007

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan poster
6.1

A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

2011

Slam Dance poster
4.9

When framed for the murder of a sultry blonde, an underground cartoonist is drawn into a web of corruption, blackmail and deceit.

Slam Dance

1987

Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive poster
4.6

A man is hired by a group of people he believes to be gangsters to escort a briefcase from America to Hong Kong. When he arrives, however, his contact is nowhere to be found. With no further instructions, he decides to take in the sights of Hong Kong, which consist of him taking part in a great deal of blood, sex and general weirdness, all while wearing a briefcase handcuffed to his arm.

Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive

1989

While the Women Are Sleeping poster
5.4

Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple.

While the Women Are Sleeping

2016

No artwork available
NR

Chinatown is an evocative place. It exists in our cities, in our imaginations, on our television screens, and in our memories. It is at once a sprawling, vibrant immigrant community and a forgotten strip mall of buffet restaurants.

Chinatown Film Project

2009

Eat a Bowl of Tea poster
5.6

An American-Chinese man brings over his wife from China to America, but the challenges of making a living and adjusting to a new life, plus the attentions of a gambler threaten their marriage.

Eat a Bowl of Tea

1989

The Princess of Nebraska poster
5.7

Sasha is a young woman from Beijing, studying in Nebraska. She flies to the Bay Area and meets up with friends, including Boshen, a gay man who was the lover of Yang, a member of Beijing's Opera who got Sasha pregnant four months before. She's made an appointment at a clinic for the next day. Boshen thinks he, she, Yang, and the baby can be a family. After a contentious dinner, Sasha meets X, a call girl on her way to a party with older men. Sasha goes too. Later, Sasha asks X to travel the world with her. Reality awaits the next day. As the annual St. Stupid's Day Parade passes by, Boshen accompanies Sasha to the clinic. What will she decide?

The Princess of Nebraska

2008

Chan Is Missing poster
6.7

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.

Chan Is Missing

1982

Chan Is Missing poster
6.7

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.

Chan Is Missing

1982

Chan Is Missing poster
6.7

Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.

Chan Is Missing

1982

Coming Home Again poster
5.8

A Korean-American man cares for his ailing mother and tries to master her traditional Korean dishes.

Coming Home Again

2023

Coming Home Again poster
5.8

A Korean-American man cares for his ailing mother and tries to master her traditional Korean dishes.

Coming Home Again

2023

A Man, a Woman and a Killer poster
5.4

A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER is the story of a small-time gangster (Dick Richardson) writing his journal in a Mendocino, California, farmhouse, as he awaits a hit man who is coming to kill him. In this first part of a trilogy, realities continue to shift between the story, and the actual making of the film, as seen through unscripted scenes, real-life narrations by lead actors, and the real relationship that developed on the set between Richardson and the actress (Carolyn Zaremba) who played his girlfriend. A bumbling, local librarian (played by Ed Nylund) is mistaken for the "killer" and plays along with the game.

A Man, a Woman and a Killer

1975

A Man, a Woman and a Killer poster
5.4

A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A KILLER is the story of a small-time gangster (Dick Richardson) writing his journal in a Mendocino, California, farmhouse, as he awaits a hit man who is coming to kill him. In this first part of a trilogy, realities continue to shift between the story, and the actual making of the film, as seen through unscripted scenes, real-life narrations by lead actors, and the real relationship that developed on the set between Richardson and the actress (Carolyn Zaremba) who played his girlfriend. A bumbling, local librarian (played by Ed Nylund) is mistaken for the "killer" and plays along with the game.

A Man, a Woman and a Killer

1975

No artwork available
NR

In 2023, over 80,000 people went missing in Japan, with 30,000 dying alone. Ten percent remained unidentified, known as “muenbotoke” (buddhas without connections). Satsuki works part-time at an NGO near Ueno Park, indifferent to her job and the faces of those seeking help, until she stumbles upon the diary of a deceased homeless man. Toshi, a fellow drifter in the park, tells her that her encounter with the man’s ghost is no accident. Guided by the diary, they embark on a journey into the past to uncover the man’s identity, which is deeply intertwined with Ueno’s post-war history. Along the way, they meet those whose lives the ghost touched, each revealing a story of a man who willingly cut ties with his family. Satsuki’s dreams and memories lead her astray, uncovering a bitter truth. Her search for answers about the vanished finds resolution in Toshi, who waits for the third reincarnation of his late wife.

Ghost of Ueno

2026

No artwork available
6.8

Dim Sum Take-Out shows how the heterogeneity and complexity of Asian American experiences can be erased. It was literally cut together from film that was shot for Dim Sum, which was conceived as a film about the ways in which five women of the Chinese diaspora—three American-born, a naturalized citizen, and a recent immigrant—try to balance their personal goals and the expectations of the Chinese American community in which they live. The original story line was thought to be too complicated and ambitious, and, ultimately, significant portions of Dim Sum were rewritten and reshot to focus on Geraldine, a second-generation Chinese American woman, and her relationship with her immigrant mother. However, footage that had already been shot for the film was edited together to create Dim Sum Take-Out, an eleven-minute film made up of narrative segments intercut with music video style segments, set to English- and Chinese-language versions of the song "My Boyfriend's Back."

Dim Sum Take-Out

1988

Soul of a Banquet poster
3.0

Documentary about Cecilia Chiang, "the mother of the true Chinese cuisine."

Soul of a Banquet

2014

Strangers poster
3.2

Three provocative short stories. An American in Paris seduces a young man only to have the tables turned; a tourist recovering from an accident is alone but far from lonely; and an exchange student decides to intervene when he sees the woman in the opposite apartment being tied, gagged and beaten by her lover.

Strangers

1992