Johnson Cheng’s films have screened at festivals including Locarno, Toronto, Tribeca, Slamdance, and AFI FEST, where his short films won the Audience Awards 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) across two seasons. Most recently, he was selected as a director for the 2026 Netflix Series Directors Program.
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). His feature work includes UNDER THE BURNING SUN (Slamdance Narrative Feature Audience Award), as executive producer, and JUNHEE AND MITSURU, a Japanese-Korean feature currently in post, as producer and editor.
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 and Head of the Directing Track in the Department of Cinematic Arts at California State University, Long Beach. He holds an M.F.A. in Directing and Screenwriting from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and is represented by WME.
