Charles Yi was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Torrance, California. He started making movies with his father's camcorder at the age of nine. Although these first productions were small affairs involving friends and family, it was apparent early on that Charles had a passion for directing. Unfortunately, all of the movies that he made up to age 16 were stolen from his house during a robbery. However, this did not deter Charles from continuing to pursue his passion. Charles moved to San Francisco and enrolled in the cinema program at San Francisco State University in 1999. He excelled in his cinema classes, having been studying film, so to speak, since childhood. Charles even used film in some of his other classes, coming to agreements with the teachers to make short films for projects. One such project, Always Running: Chapter 6, was done in replacement of a book report. The author of the book, Luis Rodriguez, has referenced and made a link to Charles' adaptation from his website. Also, while attending San Francisco State, Charles met his future business partners Robin B. Reyes and Darren Hamlyn. After graduating with a BA in Cinema in 2004, he returned to Torrance. In 2005, he started the production company Across The Street Films and brought his two aforementioned peers on board to help with different aspects of the company. They have recently completed their first collective project.Charles' short film Nice Guys Finish Last was shown at the 2007 Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival."Traffic In The Sky" was shown at the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival as well as the 2007 San Diego Asian Film Festival.Charles Yi recently won the Grand Prize to Stranglehold's True To John Woo Short Film Contest, picked by John Woo himself.
