Photo: Dulce Osuna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What draws me to Steven Okazaki is patience. Anyone can point a camera at suffering, but his cinéma vérité work earns its power by staying still and letting ordinary people reveal extraordinary lives. His Oscar-winning short on a Japanese American internment artist tells me he cares about the corners of history most filmmakers walk past. I respect documentarians who chase truth instead of spectacle, and his Peabody, Emmy and multiple Academy nominations suggest the industry eventually noticed. He is the kind of quiet craftsman whose work outlasts louder careers, and I'd trust his lens over almost anyone's.
Overview
Steven Okazaki (born March 12, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker known for his raw, cinéma vérité-style documentaries that frequently show ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances. He has received a Peabody Award, a Primetime Emmy and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, winning an Oscar for the documentary short subject, Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Steven Okazaki
- Name (Japanese)
- スティーヴン・オカザキ
- Reading
- すてぃーゔん・おかざき
- Born
- March 12, 1952 (age 74)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Dragon
- Origin
- Venice, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / documentary filmmaker / film editor / screenwriter / film producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Venice High School
- University
- San Francisco State University
Awards & achievements
- 1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film director — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.