Photo Credit: Tshombe Sampson

Amy Shi is quickly becoming a cult favorite actress in the short film world. Her short “Zalla” in which she starred and also directed, was named a finalist in the sci-fi category at the 2019 French Riviera Film Festival held in Cannes in May. “Zalla” was also named a finalist at the 2018 Canada Golden Maple International Film Festival and the Macao International Film Festival.

Shi stars in the lead role in the new horror short “Vampire’s Tale” written and directed by Shia Gao. The film, produced by Shi and Gao, is the story of a beautiful vampire wants to hide her identity and live a normal life, but finds herself lost control when she was helping her best friend to test the boyfriend’s loyalty. Kyle Gelfand and Iris Svis also star in the film that is currently on the festival circuit.

Born in China’s Hunan Province, Shi was secretly raised by her grandmother in a small rural village far away from the city where her parents lived. Five years later, she returned to the family fold to greet her baby brother, but the impact of her earliest years close to nature left a deep impression on her. Shi grew up liberated in spirit, inheriting the fearlessness of her grandmother from those early years.

She studied intensely, earning top grades and aspired to reach her goal to be a scientist like her idol, Madame Curie. She earned her BA in marketing and computer science, and eventually an MBA. After graduation, she was hired as a management consultant in Chicago. While living in Chicago, however, things took a very different turn for Shi.

She studied improv at the legendary Second City and attended acting classes. She soon was cast in theater shows such as “Autumn Moon”, TV projects including “Shameless,” “Chop-Chop Chicago,” “Chicago PD,” and films “Time Sentry: The Box,” and “Ju-Yuki.” Amy relocated to Los Angeles in 2016 and continued her stage work in the play “Wonder Women.” Her film work includes “Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance,” “Tales of Frankenstein,” “Street 2 Death Fight,” “The Man Deletes Everything,” “James Dilemma” and the award-winning film “Whisper.”  

She received the Best Lead Actress Award at the 2017 Canada Golden Maple Film Festival. She also participates in beauty pageants and was crowned 2018 Ms. Los Angeles. She represented Los Angeles in the 11th Ms. Corporate America pageant and received “The Spirit Award.”

Shi was named honoree of 2018 Mandarin Leader in recognition of her excellence in Art amongst Chinese Americans. She started producing movies in 2017, and is co-producer on “Street 2 Death Fight,” “The Lawst Inn,” and a few other projects. She founded Hollywood Dream Lab, an organization dedicated to promoting diversity in Hollywood productions.

@darlingamyshi