Johnson Cheng is a writer/director whose films have screened at festivals such as Locarno, Toronto, Tribeca, Slamdance, and AFI FEST, where his short films won the Audience Award in 2020 and 2021. As a DGA television director, Johnson was brought on by Destin Daniel Cretton to direct on the first season of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE (Disney+), a genre-hopping action-comedy series. He went on to direct multiple episodes of the Chicago-set drama THE CHI (Paramount+ SHOWTIME), most recently returning to direct on its seventh season.
Johnson’s short films, shot in the U.S., China, and Japan, include ONLY THE MOON STANDS STILL (Locarno, Tribeca, AFI FEST), LONELY BLUE NIGHT (AFI FEST, HBO APA Visionaries), IRON HANDS (Toronto, Tribeca), and A STORY OF DIVINE WIND (Beyond Fest Chicago, Sapporo). Johnson was also part of the producing team for UNDER THE BURNING SUN, which won the Slamdance Narrative Feature Audience Award, and JUNHEE AND MITSURU, a Japanese/Korean feature currently in post-production.
Johnson is an alumnus of the Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy, Film Independent Project Involve, and the DGA DDI Mentorship Program. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award (Cary Grant Film Award) and the HBO APA Visionaries Award, and has served as a jury member for festivals including AFI FEST, Pingyao, and NYAFF.
Johnson is a tenure-track Assistant Professor (Head of Directing Track) in the Department of Cinematic Arts at California State University, Long Beach. He holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing/Screenwriting from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program, where his thesis film received the CUFF Best Film Award. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Johnson is represented by WME.
