Tim Toyama

Tim is a produced playwright, the executive producer of an Academy Award® winning short film (based on one of his plays), and an Emmy® nominated executive producer/writer. His plays have been produced at The Complex, in Los Angeles, and The Road Theatre Company, at the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood, California. Among them Tim's best-known work is Visas And Virtue, inspired by the heroic saga of Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara - known as "The Japanese Schindler." Adapted to the big screen by actor/director Chris Tashima, the 26-minute cinematic tribute to the heroic diplomat won the Academy Award® for Live Action Short Film in 1998. In addition to serving as the film's executive producer, to bring Visas and Virtue (1997) to the screen Tim co-founded Cedar Grove Productions, along with Tashima and producer Chris Donahue. By engaging audiences with high-quality dramatic films, intended not only as entertainment but also for educational use, Cedar Grove Productions has broadened audience perspectives to include Asian American stories, history and issues either glossed over in textbooks or omitted by the media. Cedar Grove Productions remains dedicated to developing projects that boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the spotlight on stage, and the close-up on screen. Tim's more recent work, Independence Day, was also brought to the screen by Cedar Grove Productions, this time as a half-our television program for PBS. Inspired by his own father "Zip" Toyama's World War II experience in a U.S. concentration camp for Japanese Americans, Day of Independence (2003) received an EMMY® Nomination in 2006, from the NATAS Northern California Chapter, in the category of Historical/Cultural - Program/Special. Tim co-wrote the screenplay, and again served as executive producer on the program, which in addition to its PBS broadcast, has been shown at over sixty international film and video festivals, and has garnered twenty-five awards. Tim has served on the Artistic Board at The Road Theatre Company as well as the Literary Committee at East West Players theatre. He has been honored with awards from various community organizations, including the "Japanese American of the Biennium," awarded by the National JACL, a Community Award from the Japanese American Service Committee, of Chicago, Special Recognition from the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, of Los Angeles, a Visionary Award from East West Players, and a Humanitarian Award from The "1939" Club, a Holocaust Survivors' organization.