James Y. Shih is the son of Taiwanese immigrants and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from UC San Diego where he studied Economics and Theatre and performed there as an actor on stage and in film.

After graduation James moved to Taipei and attended Mandarin courses at the National Taiwan Normal University. In Taipei, he worked as a production assistant for various productions as well as a lead performer for Against Again Theatre Troupe's "The Silent Left Hand".

Returning to the U.S., he helped produce “Fight Life” (2012), a feature documentary that examines the lives of professional fighters and also co-directed/directed the short films “Distance” (2012) and “Moment” (2016)–romantic dramas featuring Asian American leads–which have premiered at national film festivals.

James was a Co-Producer for the sci-fi feature “Advantageous” about an Asian-American mother and daughter struggling to survive in a dystopian future. The film premiered at Sundance 2015 where it won the Collaborative Vision Award. It is currently on Netflix.

James holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Cal State University, Northridge and is based in the Los Angeles area. His latest project is “Ahma & Alan" (2019), a short film inspired by his Taiwanese grandma. It is currently on its festival run, updates here.

James is passionate about telling personal stories from the Asian/Asian-American community that entertain and inform others about the human condition and humanizes the Asian-diaspora. He also podcasts.

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