Sherwood Hu

Acclaimed stage and film director Sherwood Hu grew up in Shanghai before--with the support of his artistically-inclined family--moving to the United States and completing a Master's degree in film and theater production at the State University of New York. After finishing his graduate education at the University of Hawaii, Hu landed several opportunities to helm high-profile stage productions including "Rashomon," a tale best known for Japanese icon Akira Kurosawa's landmark film adaptation. Hu began to establish his reputation for elaborate historical epics with his next play, "The Legend of Prince Lanling," a production that earned award recognition from the Kennedy Arts Center and was later adapted by the director into his debut film, "Warrior Lanling." Already considered an emerging talent in the Chinese film industry, he caught the eye of Francis Ford Coppola, who acted as executive producer on Hu's next film, "Lani-Loa - The Passage," a supernatural thriller starring Angus Macfadyen and Japanese-American actor Chris Tashima. The 1998 movie was the initial project of director Wayne Wang and Coppola's Chrome Dragon Films, an experimental company focused on financing American projects for Asian filmmakers. Hu's 2006 epic, "Prince of the Himalayas," impressed critics and audiences alike with its re-imagining of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" against the backdrop of ancient Tibet; the film earned many awards, including accolades from the Calabria International Film Festival and the Monaco Film Festival. In addition to his cinematic work, he is well-known for his popular TV series "Purple Jade" and "Fighting Peking."