TEDDY ZEE
Teddy Zee is one of the most visible champions of Chinese and Asians in Hollywood. The films Zee produced and supervised have amassed over $2.6billion in revenue. He served as Executive Vice President at Columbia Pictures, Senior Vice President at Paramount Pictures, President of Sony-based Overbrook Films, President of Fox-based Davis Entertainment, and now under the banner of Teddy Zee Productions. In addition to film and entertainment, Zee has built an active advisory and consulting practice that spans media, technology and commerce while bridging Hollywood with China and Asia.
Since March 2015, Zee is a venture partner in Xcelerate Limited, an investment platform focused on building lifestyle companies in China and Asia and the affiliated Magic Concepts Asia. For the fourth year, Zee has guest programmed foreign shows for the Shanghai TV Festival. Zee also worked with GSMA to help program entertainment and media related content at Mobile World Congress: Shanghai.
Zee actively advises several companies including: Oben, a technology company that has created a voice engine for Internet of Things and AI devices; SmartEar, a start-up that makes a revolutionary in-ear smart device; ParagonOne, a platform that connects foreign students with a network of mentors and advisors in the US; Starmaker, a tech driven media company focused on music and discovering new stars; and Lifesite, a cloud-based secure storage system for life’s most important documents.
Other companies that he has advised include Meitu, the Chinese photo and video app company has downloads to almost one billion unique devices and their video platform Meipai has more than 175 million users after debuting in May 2014; ThinOptics, a startup that delivers lightweight and durable reading glasses that store on the back of smartphone cases; and Ooyala, a leading online video platform company acquired by Telstra. Zee served as Head of Creative, Mobile Technologies Division for Rambus. They acquired Silicon Valley interactive media start-up Mozaik Multimedia, where Zee held the post of Chief Creative Officer.
In partnership with Star J Entertainment, Zee optioned the Korean remake rights to Israel’s Prisoner of War, which was the basis for the hit series Homeland. Zee managed a successful marketing, promotions and licensing collaboration between Chinese fashion retailer Semir and Marvel Studios on Iron Man 2. He was executive producer/consultant on Quantum Quest, a 3-D, CGI animated film for Taiwan’s Digimax in cooperation with NASA and Jet Propulsion Lab. Zee executive produced Mashbox for Myx TV, which was nominated for the NAMIC Vision Awards 2013 in the category of Digital Media – Long Form. He also supported Japanese pop star Jin Akanishi’s US debut in 2012 by executive producing the web series Jin Akanishi: The Takeover.
Zee was Executive Producer of Pursuit of Happyness, a Columbia Pictures film featuring Will Smith that earned $300 million in worldwide ticket sales. Zee produced West 32nd for Korea’s CJ Entertainment. The movie was selected for World Narrative Competition at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Zee produced Hitch, a Columbia Pictures release that earned over $365 million in worldwide box office sales. He also produced Saving Face starring Joan Chen, an official selection for the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. As President of Davis Entertainment, Zee was the Executive Producer of Life or Something Like It, a New Regency release starring Angelina Jolie. Zee was executive producer of the Asian Excellence Awards that was broadcast on E! and AZN-TV to 100 million homes in the US.
As Executive Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures, Zee oversaw such films as Anaconda, Cable Guy, Devil’s Own, First Knight, Fools Rush In, Hero, Mo Money, My Girl, and Sleepwalkers. Charlie’s Angels grossed $264 million worldwide and spawned a sequel. Zee championed Chow Yun Fat’s Hollywood debut in Replacement Killers. As Senior VP of Productions at Paramount Pictures, he shepherded such films as Cousins, Indecent Proposal, Presidio and Star Trek VI.
Zee earned an MBA from Harvard University and a BS from Cornell University. He is a member of: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (Oscars), Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Emmys) and Producers Guild of America. As a member of Committee of 100, he co‐founded the Leadership and Mentoring Program. Zee serves on the Board of Directors for Koreatown Youth + Community Center in Los Angeles.