Alice Wu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alice Wu
Wu in 2025
Born	(1970-04-21) April 21, 1970 (age 55) San Jose, California, U.S.
Education	Stanford University (BS, MS)
Occupation	Filmmaker, screenwriter

Alice Wu (Chinese: 伍思薇; born April 21, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is well-known for her movies Saving Face (2004) and The Half of It (2020).

Her films often show Chinese-American main characters. They explore the lives of smart, female characters. Alice Wu chose not to sell the script for Saving Face to keep the story true to the Taiwanese-American community. Her work has helped more Asian people be seen in movies today. She has inspired actresses like Awkwafina and Lana Condor.

Early Life and Education

Alice Wu was born in San Jose, California. Her parents were immigrants from Taiwan. Her family later moved to Los Altos, California. She finished high school there in 1986.

At 16, she started college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She then moved to Stanford University. She earned a degree in computer science in 1990. She also got her master's degree in computer science in 1992. Before making movies, Wu worked as a software engineer for Microsoft in Seattle.

How Alice Wu Started Her Career

While working at Microsoft, Alice Wu began writing a book. She soon realized the story would be better as a movie. So, she took a 12-week screenwriting class. In this class, she wrote the script for her first big movie. After that, she left her job at Microsoft. She moved to New York City to become a full-time filmmaker.

Making Saving Face (2004)

Her screenwriting teacher encouraged her. Alice Wu left Microsoft in the late 1990s. She wanted to turn her script for Saving Face into a film. She gave herself five years to do it. Production started just as she reached her fifth year. In 2001, the script won an award from the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.

Saving Face was released in 2004. The movie was inspired by her own life. It showed her experiences as a lesbian in the Taiwanese American community. She hoped the audience would feel hope after watching it. She wanted them to know it's never too late to find what they truly want. Alice had some disagreements with her mother when she shared her identity. But she found that her movie could connect with many different people.

The film has been important for both lesbian and Chinese communities. It shows the challenges faced by Chinese-Americans. It also explores the role of women and lesbian identity. Wu also looked at mother-daughter relationships in the Chinese-American community. She did this through the main character and her mother. The film was a way to show positive representation for her own mother.

Saving Face made Alice Wu a role model. She inspired other Chinese-Americans in the film industry. For example, Awkwafina had a Saving Face poster in her room. She said it was the first movie that truly spoke to her as an Asian-American.

The movie first showed at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Its U.S. premiere was at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics released the film in May 2005.

What Happened Between Films

After Saving Face, Wu worked on a movie based on a book. The book was called Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China. However, this movie was never fully made.

In 2008, she sold an idea for a TV show to ABC. It was called "Foobar." The show was based on her experiences working as a woman in the technology world.

After this, Wu took a break from filmmaking. She spent time taking care of her mother, who was ill. She used her savings and money from Microsoft and Saving Face. Most of her friends did not know what she was doing during this time.

Making The Half of It (2020)

When her mother's health got better, Alice Wu started writing again. But she found it hard to start. To help herself, Wu wrote a $1,000 check to an organization she disliked. She gave it to a friend. She told her friend, "If this first draft isn't written, you are sending that check in." This helped her write the first draft.

This draft became The Half of It. It is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film. Alice Wu wrote, directed, and produced it. The script was listed on the Black List in 2018. This list features popular movie scripts that have not yet been produced.

The film is a romantic comedy. It follows a Chinese-American teenager. She helps a boy win over his crush. But she also has feelings for the same person. The story is loosely based on Wu's own teenage friendship. The movie stars Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, and Alexxis Lemire.

The Half of It won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature. This was at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. It was released on Netflix on May 1, 2020. The movie received many positive reviews.

In 2022, Wu wrote and directed a commercial for Oreo. It was called "The Note." This commercial showed a young Chinese American man's journey of sharing his identity. It highlighted how family can support their loved ones.

Awards and Recognitions

In March 2005, Alice Wu's film Saving Face was the opening film. This was at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Later that year, she received the Visionary award. This was at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. It celebrated her first movie, Saving Face. She was also nominated for a breakthrough director award. This was at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.

In 2006, Saving Face was nominated at the GLAAD Media Awards. It won the Viewer's Choice Award at the Golden Horse Awards. These awards are like The Academy Awards in Taiwan. In 2019, The Los Angeles Times named the film one of the 20 Best Asian American Films of the Last 20 Years.

In April 2020, Wu's film The Half of It won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature. This was at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.

In June 2020, Queerty named her one of fifty heroes. This was to honor the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade. These heroes were recognized for leading the nation toward equality.

In 2021, Wu was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. This was for Best Screenplay for The Half of It.

Personal Life

Alice Wu is a lesbian. She realized this about herself while taking a feminist studies class at Stanford. She shared this with her mother during a conversation.

Wu prefers to keep her personal life private.

Movies Alice Wu Has Worked On

See also

• List of female film and television directors
• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women