Justin Lin is a Taiwanese-American film and TV director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the Fast and Furious film franchise.
Early LifeJustin Lin was born on 12 October 1971 in Taipei, Taiwan. However, his family soon moved to Orange County, California, where he attended the Cypress High school. After a two-year stint at the University of California, San Diego, Lin moved to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It was here that he pursued a Bachelors of Arts in Film & Television and a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Directing and Production.
Movie CareerThe first film Justin Lin was a part of was Shopping for Fangs, which he co-directed with his classmate Quentin Lee, while they were still at UCLA. The film, starring John Cho, went on to be a cult film amongst independent Asian American cinema. In 2002, Lin released Better Luck Tomorrow, his first film as a solo director. The movie was about Asians living in the USA, who get bored of their over-achieving academic lives and get involved in increasingly dangerous criminal activities. The movie premièred at the Sundance Film Festival and caught the attention of several critics, including the widely notable film critic Roger Ebert, who heaped praise on Lin by saying that he, “reveals himself as a skilled and sure director, a rising star”. MTV Films then bought the rights of distribution for the film, making it their first acquisition. The director's next movie Annapolis (2006) starred prominent Hollywood actors like James Franco, Tyrese Gibson, and Jordana Brewster but was a flop critically and commercially.
On 8 June 2005, Fast and Furious producer Neal H. Moritz signed Justin Lin to direct The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The film, a crime-action movie based on an underground car racing cult in Tokyo, released in 2006. It opened to mixed reviews but grossed over 150 million USD at the international box office. Lin then took up an independent project, a film he titled Finishing the Game (2006), a mockumentary about the events surrounding the production of Bruce Lee's last film, the shelved project- Game of Death. The film was met with positive responses and screened at numerous film festivals. The director then began to work on the 2009 film Fast & Furious (also known as Fast & Furious 4), the fourth film in the franchise. The movie united actors Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, all of whom would go on to be some of Hollywood's best known actors over the course of the Fast and Furious franchise. Although most critics bashed the movie, it earned over 360 million USD worldwide. in 2011, Justin Lin directed its sequel, Fast & Furious 5 (also known as Fast Five), which saw the addition of Dwayne Johnson to the cast. Unlike its two prequels, Fast & Furious 5 was commended by the critics, with a journalist from The Telegraph labeling the pairing of Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson a “cosmic event”. The blockbuster hit grossed over a handsome sum of 625 million USD. Justin Lin even worked as a producer on the movie, as well as on its prequel.
The sixth instalment of the franchise, Fast & Furious 6, released in 2013 and earned generally positive reviews. The movie overtook its predecessors at the international box office, earning over a whopping 785 million USD. Justin Lin, however, left the franchise stating that he didn't agree with the studio's plans of making the seventh instalment on an accelerated schedule as he felt that it would adversely affect the quality of the movie. He was then replaced by director James Wan. Justin Lin went on to direct the sci-fi action film Star Trek Beyond (2016), the third instalment in the rebooted Star Trek series.
Television CareerJustin Lin has also directed several TV show episodes. In 2010, he directed numerous episodes of the comedy series Community. He also directed two episodes of True Detective in its second season. Lin was also the executive producer of the action drama Scorpion. He reportedly even directed a few episodes in its pilot season.