Jessica Yu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jessica Yu
Yu in 2010
Alma mater	Yale University
Occupation	Director, writer, producer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Mark Salzman
Children	2

Jessica Yu (Chinese: 虞琳敏; pinyin: Yú Línmǐn) is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. She makes all kinds of movies and TV shows. These include documentary films, dramatic films, and popular television series.

Jessica Yu won an Academy Award (also known as an Oscar!) in 1996. She won for her short documentary film, Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien. Her film Last Call at the Oasis (2012) was inspired by a book called Ripple Effect. More recently, she directed Misconception (2014) and ForEveryone.Net (2016). The latter is a documentary about Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web. She also directed the Netflix comedy Maria Bamford: Old Baby (2017). In 2019, Yu was nominated for an Emmy Award for her directing work on the TV show Fosse/Verdon.

Growing Up & School Life

Jessica Yu grew up in Los Altos Hills, California. Her father, Dr. John Kou-ping Yu, was a doctor who specialized in cancer. He was born in Shanghai. Her mother, Connie Young Yu, is a writer and historian. She is from a family that has lived in California for three generations.

Yu went to Gunn High School in Palo Alto. She worked as a reporter for the school newspaper, The Oracle.

She then attended Yale University. There, she was a very talented fencer. She was named an NCAA All-American twice and an All-Ivy three times. As a world-class foilist, she was part of the Junior World Team. She also joined the United States national team for the World Championships and World University Games. Yu graduated from Yale University in 1987 with top honors. She earned a bachelor's degree in English.

Jessica Yu's Career Journey

After college, Yu thought about going to law school. But her father suggested she try something else. She found out about film production while looking for a job with flexible hours. This would let her keep competing in fencing.

She started as a production assistant in 1989. She worked on commercials and learned about filmmaking. When she started working on documentaries, she became very interested in the process. Yu learned filmmaking by working on sets, not by going to film school.

She mainly makes documentaries. But she hopes to make a fully animated comedy movie one day. For Yu, getting to make films often happens by chance. Her documentaries often explore big issues that people around the world face. She lets the people in her films tell their own stories. She believes that the story itself is more important than politics. Her films aim to teach people about everyday issues, like water conservation. When she's not making movies, Yu directs television shows.

Starting in the 1990s

Yu began her career in 1993 with a short film called Sour Death Balls. This silent, black-and-white film showed people's funny reactions to very sour candy. She got the idea from a child who offered sour candy to people. Yu sent her short film to festivals, and it was shown at the Telluride Film Festival in 1993.

Her first documentary was Men of Reenaction (1994). It looked at people who go to great lengths to recreate Civil War battles.

Her most famous early work was Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien. This documentary short won an Academy Award. It features Mark O'Brien, a poet from Berkeley who used an iron lung to breathe. His editor suggested that a film be made about him. The film was shown at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. It won many awards before the Academy Awards.

Yu's 1998 HBO documentary The Living Museum was also recognized. It followed a patient at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. The film was nominated for a major award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

Directing in the 2000s

In the 2000s, Yu got a chance to direct TV shows. She was invited to join a special program for directors at John Wells Productions. She learned by watching other directors. She felt it was important to do well so that other women of color from documentaries would get similar chances.

While working there, she started directing episodes for shows like Grey's Anatomy and The West Wing. On her first directing job for The West Wing, the producer encouraged her to add her own ideas. She decided to start the episode with calm, wide shots to show the quiet before a big event.

She also directed a sports comedy film called Ping Pong Playa (2007). This movie explored Asian family culture through a Chinese ping pong player. He tries to prove himself to his family. Her friends thought it was time for a funny Asian American character in movies. Yu wanted to bring a light and flexible style to this scripted film, similar to how she worked on documentaries. She aimed to give the actors a lot of freedom.

Focusing on the 2010s

In her later documentaries, like Last Call at The Oasis (2011) and Misconception (2014), Yu focused on big global issues. She wanted to show how these issues connect with things like climate, population, and the environment. Last Call at The Oasis talks about the water crisis in the United States. Working on it made her think about how it would affect her own children. This made the project very personal for her. She spent six months researching before filming to understand all the facts about the water crisis.

Last Call at the Oasis inspired Yu to direct her 2014 documentary Misconception. This film looks at population issues from a personal point of view. While making the water crisis film, people asked why they should save water if population growth couldn't be controlled. Her main goal was to connect this topic with emotional, entertaining, and interesting stories.

After 2015, most of her work has been directing and producing television shows. For Netflix, she directed episodes of dramas like 13 Reasons Why and Hollywood. She also directed Maria Bamford's comedy special Old Baby.

Projects in the 2020s

Jessica Yu has continued to direct many television drama series in the 2020s. Her work includes episodes of This Is Us (like "Don't Let Me Keep You" in 2021) and The Morning Show ("Kill the Fatted Calf," 2021). She also directed several episodes of In Treatment in 2021. More recently, she directed episodes for Citadel (2023) and Only Murders in the Building (2024).

Personal Life

Jessica Yu is married to the author Mark Salzman. They live in Los Angeles with their two daughters, Ava and Esme.

Jessica has an older sister, Jennifer Yu, who manages technical publications. Her younger brother, Martin Yu, is an actor.

Filmography

Short Films Directed

Feature Films Directed

TV Series Directed

Awards and Nominations

Jessica Yu has won and been nominated for many awards for her films and TV shows.