Bao Nguyen

Before he began his career as a director, he was at AmeriCorps helping to revitalize New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood after September 11th and also worked as a campaign staffer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. His feature doc directorial debut, LIVE FROM NEW YORK!, celebrating 40 years of Saturday Night Live opened the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast in primetime on NBC. His 2nd feature documentary, BE WATER, a deep dive into the life and journey of Bruce Lee, competed in the U.S. Documentary Competition category at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was invited to other prestigious festivals such as SXSW, Cannes,Telluride, Hot Docs, among many others. It broadcasted nationally on ESPN and is the most watched 30 for 30 episode ever on the platform. His latest film, THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP, a feature documentary about the making of the seminal global hit song, “We Are the World”, world premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and launched globally on Netflix on January 29th where it quickly became the number one film globally on the platform. He most recently directed a short film for Apple as part of their “Shot on iPhone” campaign and it quickly became one of the most watched “Shot on iPhone” projects in Apple’s history.

In 2021, he was recognized for his work in the Asian community and selected as one of the year’s most impactful Asians by Gold House on their A100 List. He is 2011 PBS/WGBH Producers Workshop Fellow, an alumnus of the 2012 and 2014 Berlinale Talent Campus, a Firelight Media Fellow, and a 2022 BAFTA US Breakthrough recipient. He earned his BA in Politics/International Relations at NYU and his MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.