Ziyao Liu is a writer-director based on Earth. 

She creates character-driven narratives of hybrid genres. Her goal is to reimagine the lives of her characters who are otherwise constrained by reality in intimate ways. She loves finding humor beyond language barriers. 

 In 2021, Ziyao was selected as a fellow of Armed With a Camera with Visual Communication, where she created her short documentary THE BLESSING. Her sci-fi comedy short, DAISY IS GONE, won the Special Jury Award at the 2024 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Her work screened at festivals including St. Louis, Brooklyn, Jia Village Short, Dallas, and FIRST. In 2025, she created a neo-noir-influenced short, TEMPORARY DETECTIVE, set in Los Angeles Chinatown, supported by the Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award.  

Ziyao is currently in post-production with her first feature film, WHALE. Fiscally sponsored by Film Independent for tax-deductible donations,  WHALE was also selected for the 2025 MNFF Creative Distribution Mentorship and was a semifinalist for the 2023 Humanitas New Voices Fellowship. 

She studied film at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and honed her directing craft at UCLA. Born in China and now a resident alien in Los Angeles, she spends her free time tending her plants and walking in her neighborhood.