Peter Shiao
Film Producer,
Founder and President of Celestial Entertainment Growing up, Peter Shiao found that Asian American images in the media were negative, and that "there was no countervoice." From this revelation he drew the impetus to make the film Persona Non-Grata, a documentary feature addressing the Chinese "donorgate" scandals.
Shiao was born in China and became American by choice, and is quick to acknowledge negative stereotyping in the media. He notes that the Star Wars prequel Phantom Menace portrayed the Trade Federation viceroy and staff as Asian-born, accented English-speaking "Imperial Palace-like" mongers. Shiao expresses his frustration, but also sees opportunity in that "there's an upside to press, bad or not. It's better to be [represented] in the media
than not at all." He advises us to draw energy from our passions, speak loudly and "carry a big stick." Shiao is a film producer and founder of Celestial Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based film production company. His credits include the Lion's Gate television show TheImmortals and a recent production of Restless - the first-ever US/China film co-production soon to be released.
-- AC's Lenora Chu | 
