Zao Wang

Zao Wang was born in Beijing, China, and was raised in a family of two generations of filmmakers. From a very young age, he wanted to follow in his family's footsteps. He was involved in acting and dubbing at Beijing Film Studio where he grew up. He moved to the United States with his parents when he was 14 and learned English from scratch while attending high school in Mississippi. He received a B.S in Physics and B.A. in Philosophy at Millsaps College in Mississippi, and a Master Degree in Film Production New York University. While writing several Chinese and English-language scripts, Zao directed several TV documentary series for Shanghai Media Group/Shanghai TV. His fictional works have premiered at Fantasporto, Montreal, Yubari, Fantaspoa, Palm Springs, etc. His film Honeymoon Suite premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Director and Best Horror/Thriller at NBCUniversal Shorts Fest. It also won Best Creative Idea from Art Directors Club - Italiano (ADCI). He was a Directing Fellow for Television on NBC's hit drama series The Night Shift -and his next film, the 5 States of Fears, was funded by NBC's Chiller TV and aired in 2014 in the U.S. Zao was Bad Robot's only Directing Fellow in 2015, where he directed a short film, Full Moon Club, under the mentorship of J. J. Abrams. His feature directorial debut, The Precipice Game, a Chinese-language thriller produced by Fundamental Films, is scheduled for release in China and worldwide through IM Global in summer 2016.