Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen

In this memoir, award-winning film director Chu (known for Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights, and the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked) tells of growing up in Silicon Valley in the 1990s, where the technology of today was being invented. The director writes that living in the heart of the tech industry was like living in the future; he (and his future career) benefited from growing up in the land of cutting-edge technology, where homework could be videos. As a child, Chu was passionate about computers and followed the gospel of Steve Jobs. He soon combined his knack for creativity with his love of technology to find his way to the University of Southern California’s film school. At USC, however, he felt like an outsider as a first-generation Chinese American whose parents ran a restaurant, and he began questioning his identity and talent. Chu’s movie career did ultimately take off, particularly after Steven Spielberg saw his work and helped him secure an agent and land meetings with studio execs. But even as he became an established director, Chu still experienced obstacles due to racism. His memoir is a valuable firsthand account of working in Hollywood as a person of color and forging one’s own path.