Gene Cajayon

Biography

Gene Cajayon was born in Saigon during the Vietnam War to a Filipino father and a Vietnamese-French mother. As an infant he and his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Orange County, California. Growing up with equal doses of Filipino, Vietnamese and American culture, he fell in love with movies at an early age. From Ang Lee to Spike Lee, he is influenced by a broad range of contemporary filmmakers, and is committed to portraying a diverse image of America in his work.

Cajayon attended film school at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he began work on The Debut, his first feature film. A groundbreaking coming-of-age story about a Filipino American f...