Actor
Chris Tashima
March 24, 1960 · Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Chris Tashima is an award-winning American actor and director. He has starred in numerous independent feature films, most notably as the romantic lead opposite Joan Chen, Allison Sie, Kelly Hu and Autumn Reeser, in Eric Byler's Americanese which won a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast at SXSW. He was awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role, at the inaugural Love International Film Festival, for his portrayal of Papa Nakaji in Tim Savage's World War II family drama Under the Blood Red Sun produced by Dana Satler Hankins. He portrayed real-life educator/activist Shigeo Yoshida in the 442nd RCT origin story Go For Broke from producer/screenwriter Stacey Hayashi. Most recently, he played the hard-nosed Uncle Bob in the generational family comedy No No Girl from writer/director Paul Daisuke Goodman--for which he received two nominations at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, and he plays Hiro in Brian M. Tang's action/fantasy short Kodama, receiving its world premiere at SXSW 2023.
Tashima received an Academy Award® for directing the dramatic short film Visas and Virtue, a re-telling of the heroic actions of Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. In addition he co-wrote the screenplay adapting a one-act play by Tim Toyama, and starred as the Humanitarian diplomat Sugihara. He also directed, co-wrote and starred in the WWII Japanese American internment short film Day of Independence which was nominated for a NATAS Northern California Area Emmy®. These two directorial works came from Tashima's own Cedar Grove Productions, an indie entertainment house aiming to "Boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the close-up onscreen."
Notable work
7.4A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
as Boy in Nancy's English Class (uncredited)
7.3Lethal Weapon (1987)
as Fire Rescue Attendant (uncredited)
6.3The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
as The Rockabilly Club Dancer (uncredited)
8.2The Shield (2002)
as Chris Yamamoto (scenes deleted)
6.8Night of the Creeps (1986)
as Extra (uncredited)
5.8Once Bitten (1985)
as Dream Sequence Extra (uncredited)
6.5The Sure Thing (1985)
as Frat Guy at Punch Bowl (uncredited)
Often works with
Full filmography · 43
Kodama
as Hiro
2023
No No Girl
as Uncle Bob
2022
Surviving Theater 9
as Professor Cambro
2018
Go for Broke
as Shigeo Yoshida
2017
Under the Blood-Red Sun
as Papa Nakaji
2014
Real Playing Game
as Mr. Chan
20134
Lil Tokyo Reporter
as Sei Fujii
2012
Model Minority
as Ken Tanaka
2012
Half Kenneth
as Masamichi
2009
Americanese
as Raymond Ding
2006
Day of Independence
as The Umpire and Director
2003
Barrier Device
as Actor in Diamond Jeweler Commercial (uncredited)
2002