Film & Media Arts

Troy Suzuki

Troy Suzuki is a filmmaker whose work includes documentary, drama, and experimental video, with humour as a key component in his work. He studied fine art at Concordia and Emily Carr, and his work has been screened in Vancouver, including at the Powell Street Festival, Victoria, San Francisco, Dawson City, Mexico City, New York, Belgium, […]

Peter Kosaka

Peter Kosaka is a Japanese-born actor who built a film and theatre career primarily in Toronto, all while working a day job in finance. He came to Canada to study acting at the University of Windsor, receiving his BFA in 1985. After graduating, he worked as a dancer in a modern dance company, and later […]

Sandy Usami

Award-winning designer for Bell Media, Sandy specializes in print-based graphics and has designed for a variety of Bell Media franchises including CTV, CTV News, Discovery, TSN and the Comedy Network. As the sole proprietor of Kagami Images, she art-directed, designed and executed work for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, The Toronto Buddhist Church, the Momiji […]

Vincent Noguchi

Vincent Noguchi is a photographer. Born and raised in Toronto by two creative parents, Vince Noguchi found a passion in photography that quickly consumed his life. Starting early with his mother’s plastic point-and-shoot, Vince soon acquired his dad’s beautiful old Kodak and then his own Fuji 701. A darkroom followed, and a lifelong love grew […]

Margaret Issenman

Margaret (Peggy) Issenman, graphic designer, was born in 1956 in Montreal to Arnold and Betty (nee Kobayashi) Issenman. She lived in Montreal until the age of 16. One year was spent in Edinburgh, Scotland to complete her high school education. In 1974, she began a program in graphic design and visual communication at the Nova […]

Yosh Inouye

Yosh Inouye is a photographer and graphic designer. He studied sociology, photography, and graphic design in Japan and came to Canada in 1968. He worked as an advertising photographer, operating his own studio. In the mid-1980s, he was invited to teach at Sheridan College of which he says, ‘I didn’t know I can teach until […]

Renay Egami

Renay Egami is a multimedia artist. Originally from Vancouver, she is currently based in Kelowna BC where she teaches at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in the Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies / Visual Arts. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and […]

Kevin DeForest

Kevin Ei-ichi DeForest is a visual and multimedia artist. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to Japanese and Swiss parents. He studied architecture (Bachelor of Environmental Studies, 1983) and fine art (BFA, 1986) at the University of Manitoba before getting an MFA from Concordia University in 1994. He was also a Mombusho (Japan Ministry of […]

Megumi Masaki

Megumi Masaki is a concert pianist and multimedia artist. The innovation and breadth of her artistic activity, dynamic temperament and ‘riveting and mind-expanding’ performances have earned her a reputation as a leading interpreter of contemporary music. She specializes in exploring how sound, image, text and movement can be integrated in multimedia works. Masaki frequently collaborates […]

Donna Yamamoto

Donna is an actor whose acting career began in 1987 in an Art’s Club production for which she was recognized with a Jessie Award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer.’ Soon after, she played the lead role in Rosie’s Café by Rick Shiomi, which was the first Asian Canadian professional theatre group to tour across Canada. Since […]

Michael Fukushima

Over 36 years, Michael Fukushima has been an animator, filmmaker, producer, and head of the NFB’s Animation Studio. He’s a member of the AMPAS® Academy, with over 200 films (and some nice awards) under his belt. Now mostly retired, Fukushima skis, cycles, and cherry-picks projects that interest him and “spark joy”.

Midi Onodera

Midi Onodera is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making work for over 35 years. She has produced over 25 independent short productions in formats ranging from 16mm film to digital video to ‘low end’ toy camera formats such as a modified Nintendo Game Boy Camera and the VCam Now video cameras. In addition to […]

Natsuko Ohama

Natsuko Ohama is an actor who trained under legendary voice teacher Kristin Linklater. She is a founding member and permanent faculty of Shakespeare and Company Lenox, Mass., a senior artist at Pan Asian Rep New York, and was the Director of Training at the National Arts Center of Canada. Ohama has taught at numerous institutions […]

Vivien Nishi

Vivien Nishi has worked in the film industry in Vancouver for many years as a set designer, art director and production designer for TV series such as the X-Files and the comedy Psych. Currently located in Japan, Nishi is looking to exhibit Canadian films in Japan. Nishi states: ‘The skill set used to watch films […]

Tetsuro Shigematsu

Tetsuro Shigematsu is a writer, actor, performance artist, broadcaster, stand-up comic, scholar, filmmaker, and theatre artist. Originally trained in the fine arts, he found a similar creative outlet writing for CBC Television’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Then in 2004, he became the first person-of-colour to host a daily national radio program in Canada when […]