- Born
- Nickname
- Isaac
- A son of Korean immigrants, Chung grew up on a small farm in rural Arkansas and then attended Yale University, majoring in Ecology. During his senior year, Chung dropped his plans for medical school and turned to filmmaking. He studied film at the University of Utah, earning his MFA in 2004.
Chung's first film, Munyurangabo, premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. Variety called the film "an astonishing and thoroughly masterful debut;" American critic Roger Ebert called it "a beautiful and powerful film - a masterpiece." His second film, Lucky Life, was developed at the Cinefondation at the Cannes Film Festival and premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and 2010 Torino Film Festival.
Chung resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Valerie. In 2007, he partnered with local filmmakers in Rwanda to create Almond Tree Films Rwanda, a successful film production company and academy in Rwanda.
- IMDb mini biography by: almondtreefilms
- SpouseValerie Chu(? - present) (1 child)
- Parents
- Directed 2 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung. Youn won for her performance in Minari (2020).
- Received a BA from Yale University.
- Graduated from Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Arkansas.
- In 2012 he was named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow.
- Receive a MFA from University of Utah.
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