Dinh Thai - Writer / Director

INFO

Dinh Thai is an award-winning Writer/Director. Recipient of NBCU's Next Generation Filmmaker and Outstanding Director Awards and First Place in HBO's Visionaries competition.

Dinh Thai is a first-generation American, award-winning writer/director working across narrative and commercial. Born in Vietnam, fled to France, and finally settled in Los Angeles, he grew up on Cantonese at home, lazy susan family dinners, and a TV running BET, MTV, VHS, and TVB. If you know, you know.

It was an era of rap versus rock, nerds versus jocks, stoners versus students. Those lanes used to dictate who you were allowed to be, and by the 80s and 90s, they were starting to fuse. That fuse is what taught him to move between Black, Brown, White, and Asian kids.

Influenced by comics, video games, music, and sports, he landed right in the middle of it, sparking up with musician friends who turned him onto photography and great films. That same instinct, moving between worlds without picking one, is what he still does on the page and on set: a visual language for the script, a human one for the cast and crew.

His short film MONDAY, about a hustler code-switching through LA, became a festival phenomenon, earning 50+ awards including first place in HBO's inaugural Asian Pacific American Visionaries competition, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Actor, and Next Generation Filmmaker at the prestigious NBCU Shorts Festival, Best Direction at the New York Television Festival and The One Screen Festival, Best Short Film at CATALYST, and Best New Filmmaker of the Year by NFMLA. His narrative work has been featured on HBO, Cinemax, Amazon, Short of the Week, and Omeleto.

An alumnus of the Disney TV Director Program, Ryan Murphy's Half-Initiative, and NBC's Emerging Director Program, Dinh has directed episodes of Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Warrior, New Amsterdam, The Good Doctor, In The Dark, American Born Chinese (DGA Nomination), Under The Bridge, and the two-part season finale of Death and Other Details. He also co-wrote and directed AZNBBGRL, a Vietnamese American pilot for Freeform.

And as stereotypical Asian parents go, they don't know what any of this shit means.

Thai Family - Survivors of the Vietnam War. First month in the U.S., circa 1980.

— 50+ Recognitions —

HBO VISIONARIES - 1st Place
NBCU SHORTS - Outstanding Director, Next Generation Filmmaker
NFMLA - Best New Filmmaker Of The Year
NYTVF - Best Direction
CATALYST - Best Short
CHICAGO INT'L TV FESTIVAL - Gold Plaque
ONE SCREEN - Best Direction
IFS - Best Indie Short
INDY FILM FEST - Best Short
SEATTLE ASIAN AMERICAN - Best Narrative Short
MCMINNVILLE FESTIVAL - Grand Jury Prize, Best Story
FIRST GLANCE - Best Director, Cinematography, Editing
ASIANS ON FILM - Best Drama, Best Director
THE WEBBY AWARDS - Nominee Video Best Writing, Honoree Video Comedy Longform
DGA Nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement
in Children’s Program - American Born Chinese