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 over 100 international film festivals, including Tribeca (2021, 2017), AFI FEST (2021, 2020), Palm Springs (2022, 2021, 2017), Aspen, and Toronto.

Johnson most recently directed an episode of the first season of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE (Disney+), an upcoming genre-hopping action-comedy series, and shadowed director Destin Daniel Cretton on the pilot.

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. His previous short film, LONELY BLUE NIGHT, premiered at AFI FEST where it also won the Audience Award, and was acquired by HBO. Johnson’s 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 Project Involve (Writer/Director Fellow), Hillman Grad/Indeed’s Rising Voices (Filmmaker in Residence), and Film at Lincoln Center’s NYFF Artist Academy. He holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing/Screenwriting with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program in NYC. Johnson is repped by WME.