Alice Wu

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Alice Wu (伍思薇) is an American film director and screenwriter.

Alice Wu was born and raised in San Jose, California, then moved to Los Altos, California where she graduated from Los Altos High School. In 1990, she received her B.A. in Computer Science from Stanford University. Two years later, she completed her Master's degree in Computer Science at Stanford.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Wu worked as a software engineer for Microsoft in Seattle. She then left the corporate world to pursue a filmmaking career full time.

She was quoted in the Hollywood Reporter, saying that her mom dissuaded from a career in filmmaking. Her mom would say, "If you prove a theorem in math, no one can say you're wrong. If you write a book, they can choose not to read it".

Wu followed her parents' advice and pursued a career in computer science. But she never gave up on her dream and, while at Microsoft, signed up for a screenwriting class where she penned a feature script, "Saving Face." Encouraged by her screenwriting teacher -- and to the disapproval of her family, colleagues and friends -- she left Microsoft in the late '90s to try to get "Face" made. She gave herself a five-year window to do that.

Wu barely made it: The five-year deadline hit as she was starting production on "Face."

Wu's most noted work is her 2004 film, Saving Face. It was inspired by her own experiences coming out as a lesbian in the Chinese American community. She is now working on a film based on Rachel DeWoskin's memoir "Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China."

In 2001, the script for Saving Face won the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) screenwriting award.

Wu is repped by CAA and attorney Todd Rubenstein.