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“What are you going to do with that major?” “What are your plans after college?” “What career field are you thinking of going into?”

Young people, especially college students, are often posed with these questions. Though they’re usually asked out of innocuous curiosity, these questions can haunt young people, who are trapped between adolescence and adulthood. Many college students know what they “want to do,” but feel swept up by this sudden, new trajectory in life. It’s the quintessential coming-of-age question, the same one whose answers have either secured lives in place or completely turned them around, and it’s the same one that Bao Nguyen had to wrestle with.

Bao Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American, award-winning filmmaker best known for his compellingly exploratory documentaries. Some of his most notable works include feature films such as Live from New York!, Be Water, and The Greatest Night in Pop. He has also produced commercials and short films for big clients such as Google, Coca-Cola, Uber, and Apple. His latest directorial work, BTS: The Return, follows the iconic South Korean music group as they reunite after completing military service to make music again – returning to a shared creative space shaped by time apart and personal change. 

From an early age, Bao enjoyed watching movies, drawing, creative expression, and using imagery to tell stories. Yet despite his proclivity for the visual arts, Bao’s path to becoming a filmmaker was not always clear. In an interview with Asian Student Achievement, Bao tells us his own story, and shares why, despite familial and cultural expectations, he abandoned the path of a stable career in law to pursue his passion for filmmaking; how he draws from his own identity and experiences to shape his work; and of all of the possibilities and challenges that come with being an Asian American filmmaker.

Bao was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, to Vietnamese parents who immigrated to the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Like many second-generation Asian Americans, he had to navigate a blend of American culture and his parents’ heritage. His parents owned a small fabric store, where Bao and his sister were obliged to work to help support the family. On weekends, Bao would wake up early in order to watch as many cartoons as possible before heading to the store. He would spend hours behind the cash register, doodling and drawing on the back of receipts to pass the time, fueling his nascent creative imagination. Looking back, he recalls the feelings of entrapment and confinement that the store imbued in him, and how that fostered a sense of resentment towards his parents and his upbringing.

This balancing act of different cultures continued as Bao grew up and began preparing for his career. What was more important? Fulfilling familial expectations or following his own passion? For the majority of his childhood, he was set on a more conventional career path that he believed his parents had laid out for him. Close proximity to Washington, D.C. had nurtured within him an interest in law and politics. Everything seemed to make sense. So, Bao earned a degree in politics and international relations from New York University and set out to become a lawyer. The script was perfect; Bao just had to stick to it.

But on the day he was to take the LSAT, he sat in his car, key in ignition, gaze lost in the rearview mirror. Was this truly the path he desired? Was this decision to go into law really his choice? A childhood memory transported him back to a scene at his family’s dinner table, where the Nguyen family would eat late-night meals after their store closed. His dad starts sketching beautiful architectural designs, with Bao and his sister huddled around as their father creates magic with nothing but pen and paper. Bao’s father shares that, back in Vietnam, his dream was to be an architect. However, amidst the tides of war and uncertainty, he was forced to abandon his dreams on the shores of Vietnam and board the boat that would eventually make its way to America, ensuring his family’s safety and security. At that moment, Bao realized that his parents had sacrificed so much of their dreams to create a better future for himself and his sister. The only way to honor such a sacrifice was not to pursue a conventionally stable career in law, but to follow his passion for filmmaking.

“There’s a saying that I hold very dear to me,” Bao said at the 2024 National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) convention in Houston, TX. “We spend the first half of our lives trying to run from home. And the second half of our lives, trying to return to it.” Looking back at his career decision, Bao now recognizes that this part of his Asian American identity — stability and security — along with familial expectations — represented the “home” he was trying to run from. 

Following his decision to abandon the prospect of a career in law, Bao attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, earning a Master’s of Fine Arts in Social Documentary Film. Since then, he has directed over 20 short films and documentaries, establishing himself while earning several awards and nominations. Part of the appeal of filmmaking for Bao is turning an idea into a story that people find compelling and engaging. From the writers’ rooms of Saturday Night Live in Live from New York! to a recording studio filled with larger-than-life music artists in The Greatest Night in Pop to a Vietnamese village besieged by napalm in The Stringer, he has continually found a way to weave different ideas into gripping visual stories.

Bao also believes that the richest stories are told by those closest to the material: when filmmakers can draw from their own lives and reflect them in their work. Throughout his career, Bao has made his own origins and identity a central theme in his work. In Where Are You Really From?, a short film for the ancestry-testing company 23AndMe, Bao explores the most personal aspects of his parents’ immigration journey, the return to his ancestral homeland, and the reconciliation of his two worlds. That titular question doggedly looms over Bao, the answer to which often feels unattainable. Sitting on the same beach in Vietnam that his parents cast off from decades ago, he concludes, “I have the fortune of owning both sides of my parents’ story. I am 100% American. I’m 100% Vietnamese.” He had returned home, inspired to use his newly realized identity to inform his craft.

Perhaps Bao’s most famous work, Be Water follows the journey of famous martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, as he emigrated from Hong Kong and sought a career in Hollywood. However, while several films had already been made about Lee, none had been produced through a racial lens, and none had been directed by an Asian American. Bao chose to tell Bruce Lee’s iconic story through a different lens— not that of a martial arts hero or film icon, but as an Asian immigrant trying to forge a new life for himself in America. He draws many similarities between himself and Bruce Lee, particularly the struggles both faced in assimilating to American culture. But more than that, Bao drew inspiration from him. “The America I saw on screen wasn’t the America I saw around me [growing up],” Bao reflects in the film. “And it wasn’t until I saw this man named Bruce Lee when I was just a young boy, that I recognized myself. I recognized that I could be more than I thought I could be.”

While being an Asian American has allowed Bao to draw on his own life experiences to address and highlight these cultural issues in his work, he sometimes feels that his background has placed constraints on the projects he can undertake, whether due to personal obligations or industry constraints. While he continues to believe that artists should always pull from their own lives, Bao advocates that filmmakers tell stories about people outside their own realm, provided they do so with respect and reverence and are inclusive of the voices of those communities. He hopes that Asian and BIPOC filmmakers can continue to push boundaries and expand their scope, even citing science fiction, thriller, and fantasy as untapped genres. “I want filmmakers to be limitless in their thinking, confidence, storytelling, and artistry. So, I’m excited for the next generation.” 

The immigrant story is not exclusive to Bao or Bruce Lee. It’s one shared by millions of people and their future generations who feel stuck between different cultures. Bao’s own story is one of discovery, understanding, and bravery — how he was able to come to terms with his ancestral past while forging his own identity for the future. 

Asian Student Achievement aims to help Asian and Asian American (AAPI) individuals discover their personal identities by teaching them valuable skills as they begin to navigate their careers. Our programs revolve around meeting people where they are at and helping them chart a course towards their goals. We offer 1-on-1 career coaching, internship opportunities, speaking engagements and workshops, and access to a diversity-driven job board. Our mission is to equip API individuals with the confidence and capability to move through the leadership pipeline. Explore our website and sign up for our monthly newsletter to learn more!

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References

• 23andMe. (2019, April 25). Where are you really from? | Bao Nguyen [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Q9PdEm12A?si=sB5_awGBqrQ8RsBx
• Asian Student Achievement. (2025, March 11). An interview with Bao Nguyen [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/P8fBioMRoOs
• Chicago Asian Network. (2024). 2024 leadership convention [Flyer]. https://www.chicagoasiannetwork.com/event/2024-leadership-convention-by-naaap
• Lavers, R. (2025). Interview: Cinematographer Bao Nguyen, Andrew Yuyu Truong, Ray Lavers — The Stringer (Sundance 2025). Filmmaker Magazine. https://filmmakermagazine.com/129116-interview-cinematographer-bao-nguyen-andrew-yuyu-truong-ray-lavers-the-stringer-sundance-2025/
• National Association of Asian American Professionals. (2024). 2024 leadership convention [Flyer]. https://www.chicagoasiannetwork.com/event/2024-leadership-convention-by-naaap
• Nguyen, B. The return interview. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/bao-nguyen-bts-the-return-interview
• Nguyen, B. [@baomnguyen]. (2024, August 16). Behind-the-scenes moments on set reflecting on the impact of “We Are the World” across cultures and generations [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C-vgMWVyCHe/⁠