Johnson Cheng is a Chinese American writer/director from the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles. A member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), his films have screened in competition at festivals such as Tribeca, TIFF, and AFI FEST. Johnson was brought on by director Destin Daniel Cretton to direct an episode of the first season of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE (Disney+), a genre-hopping action-comedy series starring Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. Most recently, he directed two episodes of the sixth season of the drama series, THE CHI (Paramount+ SHOWTIME), and returned to direct on the upcoming seventh season.
Johnson’s latest short film, ONLY THE MOON STANDS STILL, executive produced by Lena Waithe, premiered at Tribeca and screened at AFI FEST where it won the Audience Award. Johnson’s previous short film, LONELY BLUE NIGHT, premiered at AFI FEST where it also won the Audience Award, and was acquired by HBO. His first short film, IRON HANDS, premiered at Tribeca and screened at Toronto.
Johnson is a recipient of the HBO APA Visionaries Award, the Princess Grace Award (Cary Grant Film Award), and fellowships such as Film Independent’s Project Involve (Writer/Director Fellow), Hillman Grad’s Rising Voices (Filmmaker in Residence), and Film at Lincoln Center’s NYFF Artist Academy. He was invited to be a Protégé in the DGA Director Development Initiative TV Mentorship Program.
Johnson most recently taught as a Lecturer at Pomona College, and has previously taught at Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, and Columbia University. He has been an Industry Participant for the Film Independent Episodic Directing Intensive and was invited to be a member of the AFI FEST Short Film Jury. Johnson holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing/Screenwriting with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program in NYC. He is repped by WME.
