Sherwood Hu

Sherwood Xuehua Hu (born 1961 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese American stage and film director.

Career

Hu studied theatre and film in China and the United States of America. He has a masters degree in theater and film production from State University of New York, and a Ph.D. in directing from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He also studied under Joseph Papp at New York's Public Theater.

Hu began his professional career directing theatre, including "Rashomon", "Constant Prince", "The Chairman's Wife". He also acted in the lead role of Song Liling in several productions of David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly".

Hu created "The Legend of Prince Lanling", a lavish stage production set in ancient China; this received an Honorable Mention from the Kennedy Arts Center. He later adapted this into his first feature film, the epic "Warrior Lanling", which was launched at the 1995 Telluride Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival and others.

In 1998, Francis Ford Coppola and Wayne Wang were executive producers of his second feature, one of the first co-productions between American and China. "Lani Loa - The Passage" was a Hawaiian ghost story/cop movie/spiritual love story, shot in Shanghai and Hawaii, and starred Angus Macfadyen, Ray Bumatai and Chris Tashima. Tashima also starred in his next film, "On The Roof" (2002), a small indie DV ensemble piece filmed in Pasadena, California.

In 2003, Hu returned to China to direct a 40-episode television series, "Purple Jade" for China Central Television. He returned to epic costume period film work with "Prince of the Himalayas" (2006), his own adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", set in ancient Tibet, and performed entirely in the Tibetan language.

Hu also has continued with theatre work, recently directing stage productions of A.R. Gurney's "Sylvia", Jean-Paul Sartre's "Dirty Hands" and a modern ballet, "Shakespeare and His Women", for the 8th Shanghai International Arts Festival (2006).

Hu has served as guest professor at the Shanghai Drama Academy where he supervises and mentors graduate students.

Trivia

*Hu is sometimes credited as Sherwood X. Hu.
*He has a sister who is an actress and a brother who is also a filmmaker.

External links

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