
Acting
Chris Tashima
Born 1960-03-24 · Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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."
Acting credits
7.4Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...
A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984
7.3A veteran cop and an unstable detective become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.
Lethal Weapon
1987
6.4Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.
The Karate Kid Part II
1986
5.7A fantasy/action short about a SWAT Samurai team entering a spirit world to rescue a lost captain.
Kodama
2023
6.5Gib, a beer-guzzling slob, and Alison, an uptight Ivy-Leaguer, are an unlikely duo stuck together on a cross-country trip during Christmas break. At first they get on each other's nerves but, as time passes, they find their divergent natures complement each other. Now they need to realize what they've already found before it's too late.
The Sure Thing
1985
6.8In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a fraternity accidentally thaw the corpse, which proceeds to infect the campus with parasites that transform their hosts into killer zombies.
Night of the Creeps
1986
5.8Mark wants to lose his virginity, but his girlfriend wants to wait. Unfortunately for both of them, a 400-year-old vampire Countess needs to turn a virgin into a vampire before Halloween in order to preserve her own youthful appearance, and when she finds Mark, she turns his life upside-down.
Once Bitten
1985
6.4Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.
The Perfect Weapon
1991
5.3A group of careless and unlucky drivers are sentenced to attend traffic school to keep their records clean.
Moving Violations
1985
5.4The dance crew from "Breakin'" bands together to save a community center from a greedy developer bent on building a shopping center in its place.
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
1984
4.4A vicious biker gang takes over a small town in Arizona. A Vietnam War vet passing through town and a few locals with nothing to lose go to war with the gang's ruthless leader.
Savage Dawn
1985
4.5A Tokyo cop is sent to Los Angeles to help an LAPD detective break up a yakuza ring operating in the city.
Overkill
1987
6.2December 7, 1941 - TOMIKAZU “TOMI” NAKAJI (Kyler Ki Sakamoto) and his best friend BILLY DAVIS (Kalama Epstein) are playing baseball in a field near their homes in Hawaii when Japan launches a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. As Tomi looks up at the sky and recognizes the Blood-Red Sun emblem on the fighter planes, he knows that his life has changed forever. Based on actual events, Under the Blood-Red Sun is an unforgettable story of friendship, courage and survival.
Under the Blood-Red Sun
2014
5.8The publisher of a celebrity gossip tabloid sets out to destroy an aging actor, whose career is foundering and who is also facing a battle with alcoholism.
Scandal Sheet
1985
5.8A Korean-American researcher for a female condom study loses all objectivity when she realizes that one of her subject is dating her ex and begins to pursue a friendship with the subject.
Barrier Device
2002
7.0A waitress-dancer remembers her loving brother and their bittersweet childhood in Hong Kong.
Requiem
1995
4.6Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American 16 year old, endangers her promising future as an aspiring artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer.
Model Minority
2012
7.5A teenaged drug addict is sent to Dr. Royce's controversial drug intervention program where the addicts in the program confront each other in supervised group meetings. Also, in evening meetings, the addicts are confronted by their families. The girl's parents want to remove her from the program because it upsets them that their daughter is being forced to associate with addicts who admit to stealing and trading sex for drugs.
Not My Kid
1985
6.6Europe, 1940. For thousands of Jews, a Japanese diplomat and his wife defy Tokyo and the Nazis, and offer visas, for life.
Visas and Virtue
1997
4.0In a future not too far away, Steve Battier, an elderly, terminally ill multi-millionaire, accepts the offer of a company - RPG - that in exchange for a high monetary sum, provides a very select group of clientèle the chance to be young again. For 10 hours, 10 millionaires from around the world, men and women of fame and power, are transferred to attractive and healthy younger bodies, to live in a world of temporary rejuvenation, in a game of real thrills, where every hour someone must die.
Real Playing Game
2013
4.3Long after their breakup, Chinese American Raymond Ding and Amerasian Aurora Crane struggle to let go. Torn apart by mismatched ideals, meddling friends, and the complexities of racial identities, they find other suitable mates but cannot stay away from each other
Americanese
2006
NR1945: after the death of his father, Ken escapes Japanese American internment camp to find his Caucasian mother who lives in town. Things become complicated, however, when Kens little brother, Jo, joins him at the last minute.
Half Kenneth
2009
NRWith the help of popular movie stars, this documentary tells the coming-of-age story of a young Asian-American actress navigating the convoluted and narrow paths of Hollywood.
Searching for Anna May Wong
2020
5.3Futuristic prospective series pilot, a distant cousin the 1975 theatrical violent sport movie "Rollerball," revolves around a turn-of-the-millennium family on the Great Eve (the night before the year 2000 begins) planning for a reunion. Son Richard Beymer is an inventor working with prosthetic devices to help young athlete brother Drake Hogestyn perfect his game of combat hockey to maintain his skills as a national hero, and Cristina Raines is a socially conscious doctor who wants nothing to do with their prideful father, Bert Remsen, to the distress of their loving mother, Priscilla Pointer.
Generation
1985
Behind the camera
6.6Europe, 1940. For thousands of Jews, a Japanese diplomat and his wife defy Tokyo and the Nazis, and offer visas, for life.
Visas and Virtue
1997
NRBenji, a lonely little boy, dreams of being a brave warrior in medieval Japan. In his dream, he saves the lives of a princess and her escort from three treacherous bandits and is rewarded with a valuable necklace. Later, Benji’s reality seems stranger than his dream as he rescues an old woman from a mugger.
Chisai Samurai
1986
10.0Zip, a 17 year-old Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) baseball pitcher, faces the tragic circumstances of the World War II internment of 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. Set in a relocation camp in the summer of 1943, this film chronicles the journey of an American family torn apart by a forced and unjust incarceration, a father's decision that challenges his son to find strength, and ultimately his son's triumph through courage, sacrifice and the All-American game of baseball.
Day of Independence
2003
NRA young investigator enters a house that may be haunted.
Investigation of Fear
1979
NRA young investigator enters a house that may be haunted.
Investigation of Fear
1979
NRA young investigator enters a house that may be haunted.
Investigation of Fear
1979