Jingyi Shao’s love of storytelling began in a library, spending endless hours lost in books.  For the only child of Chinese immigrants, living in Jersey, books and stories were Jingyi’s introduction to America. This love of story and storytelling eventually transferred to filmmaking which became a way to express himself and entertain audiences.

A Masters Graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Jingyi started his career working on set, learning everything about production before transitioning to directing commercials for the US General Market for brands such as Acura, McDonalds, Honda. Etc… 

Jingyi also directed commercials for global brands such as Levi’s, Johnnie Walker, Cartier, Dove and Holiday Inn.  Jingyi’s commercial and short form work would receive prestigious awards such as the Cannes Lions, D&AD, ADDY’s, Creativity International and HBO Visionaries.

While directing commercials, Jingyi develop projects in both TV and Film. He wrote on the inaugural season of the BET show Boomerang and directed two episodes of its sister show Twenties. His original screenplay Chang Can Dunk was named to the 2020 Black List which Disney developed for Jingyi to direct. For his directorial work on Chang Can Dunk, Jing was recently named to Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch 2023.

He currently lives in the Arts District in Los Angeles, where he continues to direct commercials and develop diverse projects for Amazon and Netflix, among others.  He continues to pursue his passion to tell intimate, personal stories with universal appeal that bring the marginalized and underdogs of the world into the mainstream.