Janet Yang
| Janet Yang | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 楊燕子 (traditional) |
| Chinese name | 杨燕子 (simplified) |
| Born |
July 13, 1956 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Producer/Entertainment and Media Consultant |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Children | Yahn Bruggeman |
Janet Yang (born July 13, 1956) is a prominent Hollywood producer and entertainment and media consultant with deep roots in China. Yang has distinguished herself by serving as a Cultural Ambassador, bringing the creative and business worlds together, and bridging East and West. Yang has been named one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood" by the Hollywood Reporter.
Her award-winning film and TV credits include The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Dark Matter, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, Zero Effect, Shanghai Calling, High Crimes, and Documented.[1] As a film producer, Yang has worked with some of the most formidable directors and actors in the world, and has discovered unique, often unheard voices and stories, bringing them into the mainstream. Yang is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She splits her time between Los Angeles and China.
Early life
Born Janet Yang in Queens, New York, Yang holds a B.A. from Brown University in Chinese studies and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.[2] Yang was President of World Entertainment in San Francisco. She revived this small, local distributor of Hong Kong films, expanded it into exhibition, and was able to garner exclusive representation rights in North America for all films produced in the People's Republic of China. These films include those of now internationally prominent filmmakers Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, among others. From there, Yang began her career in Hollywood.
Career
Her first producing effort was the documentary film, East to West: America Through the Eyes of a Chinese. The film documents the journey by car across America of two Mainland Chinese students who meet ordinary, and some extraordinary (Muhammad Ali, Studs Terkel), Americans. Featured on Charles Kuralt's Good Morning, America, and sold to the Disney Channel to acclaimed reviews, East to West also brought together a cast and crew from greater China, including the now celebrated Director Ang Lee as its sound man.
Yang's career in Hollywood started when she was hired by several major studios to re-introduce American cinema to the Chinese marketplace after a long hiatus. From 1985 to 1987, she represented three major studios — Universal, Paramount, and MGM/United Artists — and in an act of diplomatic prowess, was able to broker the first sale of American studio movies to China since 1949.
Yang got her start in production working closely with Steven Spielberg and his producers. In 1985, she was hired to be Spielberg's eyes and ears in China for the filming of the historic production of Empire of the Sun. She was responsible for liaising with both national and local levels of the Chinese government for its largest production to date. She then segued into a production position at Universal, supervising Spielberg's Amblin account.
It was as a production executive that Yang began her trademark search for stories that bridge cultural divides or give a voice to the underdog. One of the results of this search was the film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Dragon was one of the first Hollywood-backed productions to star an Asian actor.
From 1989 to 1996, Yang served as President of Ixtlan, the company she formed with Academy Award-winning Writer/Director Oliver Stone, spearheading all aspects of the company's development and production. At Ixtlan, she produced The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton, and directed by multiple Academy-Award winning director Miloš Forman. The film won the 1996 Golden Globe Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Actor.
Yang also served as executive producer of the groundbreaking film The Joy Luck Club, based on the best-selling novel by Amy Tan and directed by Wayne Wang. This film has become an iconic work of familial bonds, cultural assimilation, and identity.
Yang executive produced another seminal work for HBO, Indictment: The McMartin Trial for which she won both Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Made for Television Movie.
Following her seven-year stint at Ixtlan, she formed the Manifest Film Company with Lisa Henson. Manifest Productions include Carl Franklin's High Crimes, with Morgan Freeman; The Weight of Water, from Academy-Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow and starring Sean Penn; Zero Effect, starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller; and Savior starring Dennis Quaid.
In the last several years, Yang has turned her attention back to China and has produced the acclaimed film Dark Matter, directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and starring Chinese actor Liu Ye and Meryl Streep. Dark Matter premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Prize. In 2009, Yang was sought out by Disney Studios to produce its highly coveted High School Musical for Chinese audiences. Her last narrative feature was Shanghai Calling, a romantic comedy set in contemporary Shanghai. The film garnered numerous awards at prestigious film festivals around the world, and was released in the U.S. in early 2013. Yang's most recent work is as an Executive Producer on the film, Documented,[1] written and directed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas.
Membership and community participation
Yang is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; a member of the Committee of 100, an organization of prominent Chinese-Americans; an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California; and an advisory board member of CAPE, the Coalition of Asian-Pacific Americans in Entertainment. She has taught producing at the Sundance Institute and the Independent Feature Project. She is involved with a number of arts, community and political organizations.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | East to West: America Through the Eyes of Chinese | Producer |
| 1987 | Empire of the Sun | Production Advisor |
| 1998 | Iron Maze | Associate Producer |
| 1992 | Zebrahead | Executive Producer |
| 1992 | South Central | Producer |
| 1993 | The Joy Luck Club | Executive Producer |
| 1994 | The New Age | Co-Producer |
| 1995 | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Executive Producer |
| 1995 | Killer: A Journal of Murder | Producer |
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Producer |
| 1998 | Zero Effect | Producer |
| 1998 | Savior | Producer |
| 2002 | The Weight of Water | Producer |
| 2002 | High Crimes | Producer |
| 2004 | Kingdom Hospital | Producer |
| 2007 | Dark Matter | Producer |
| 2008 | Year of the Fish | Executive Producer |
| 2009 | Qi Chuan Xu Xu[3] | Executive Producer |
| 2010 | Chinese High School Musical | Producer |
| 2012 | Shanghai Calling | Producer |
| 2013 | One Night Surprise | Producer |
| 2014 | Documented[1] | Executive Producer |
Awards
| Yeah | Award | Work | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Golden Ring Award for Honoring Artistic Excellence | The Asian American Arts Foundation | |
| 1994 | Media Achievement Award | MANAA | |
| 1994 | Outstanding Corporate Executive | Asian Business League | |
| 1994 | Enzian Award for Creative Achievement | Florida Film Festival | |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | The Television Academy |
| 1995 | Golden Globe Award for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | The Hollywood Foreign Press Association |
| 1996 | 30th Anniversary Visionary Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific American Community | EWP (East West Players) | |
| 2005 | Asian American Achievement Award for Distinguished Movie Producer | OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc.) | |
| 2013 | Golden Angel Award for Best US-China Co-Production Film | Shanghai Calling | Chinese American Film Festival[4] |
| 2013 | Audrey Women of Influence Award[5] | KoreAm Journal and Audrey Magazine |
References
- 1 2 3 "Documented".
- ↑ Hirahara, Naomi. Distinguished Asian American Business Leaders. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 219–221.
- ↑ "Qi Chuan Xu Xu". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343717/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_6. External link in
|website=(help); - ↑ "Chinese American Film Festival".
- ↑ "Audrey".
External links
- Janet Yang at The Internet Movie Database