Cindy Chao and Michele Yu

Cindy Chao and Michele Yu
Born	Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Production Designers
Works on	American Born Chinese

Cindy Chao and Michele Yu are an LA-based production design team. Their creative partnership began while undergrads at UC San Diego, and has continued over 15 years of film and TV work. They enjoy telling visual stories that explore identity, history, family, and fantasy. The duo worked on designing the sets of Disney+'s American Born Chinese.

General overview

Chao and Yu have served as Production Designers on numerous movies and television shows, and count among their credits The Fuzees, Much Ado About Nothing, Grandma, and A Black Lady Sketch Show (for which they earned an Emmy nomination). However, American Born Chinese, is a real game-changer for the duo since it’s by far their highest-profile gig yet. Cindy grew up in Hollywood, whereas Michelle grew up in the suburbs, towards Orange County. They are also represented by the Gersh Agency. Chao and Yu have co-designed features, television series, streaming series, and ad campaigns for clients such as Hulu, Netflix, Urban Decay, Nike, and HBO. On June 23, 2023, some concept art for the Heaven setting as seen in Make a Splash was released by Chao and Yu. When asked what their experience working on American Born Chinese was like as Asian women, the duo said that, "it was a remarkable and unforgettable experience. Getting to work alongside icons like Michelle Yeoh and Lucy Liu was truly an honor. We grew up admiring them and their work, so to be able to work with them really was inspiring. And getting to collaborate with other Asian-American, female department heads such as Costume Designer Joy Cretton was also such a pleasure". In addition, Michele Yu went on to say that they credit part of their success with the sets with working closely with Kaitlyn Yang, the VFX supervisor.

Gallery

Images

External links

• Cindy Chao and Michele Yu (@cindyandmichele) on Instagram