Hollywood to Hawaiʻi: Chris Lee’s creative legacy at UH

Chris Lee, founder of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Academy for Creative Media System (ACM System), has been named emeritus faculty by UH President Wendy Hensel after more than 20 years of leadership.

A veteran of the Hollywood film industry, Lee served as director of the ACM System, which spans all 10 UH campuses and empowers students to pursue careers in digital storytelling, with a strong emphasis on Indigenous narratives rooted in Hawaiʻi. 

The ACM System is the first majority Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander media school in the United States. Under Lee’s leadership, it has supported students pursuing careers in creative media and helped build a pipeline of local storytellers.

Now, the Hollywood veteran is stepping down, leaving a legacy that expanded Hawaiʻi’s creative pipeline and opened doors for homegrown storytellers and creators.

“There are so many people to mahalo for this honor,” Lee said. “I am so grateful to the 2004 Board of Regents, key alumni like Roy and Hilda Takeyama, legislators and governors, the local production industry, our exceptional faculty, and most of all, our talented graduates who are driving Hawaiʻi’s growing and vital creative economy.”

Under Lee’s leadership, the ACM System launched UH Mānoa ACM (now known as the UH Mānoa School of Cinematic Arts), UH West Oʻahu ACM, ACM at Maui College and Kauaʻi Community College’s Creative Media program. It also supported initiatives including ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi, UH Esports and new degrees such as Creative Computational Media at UH Mānoa.

“Chris Lee’s foundational leadership and contributions have catalyzed creative media education across the UH System and elevated Hawaiʻi’s stories to a broader audience,” Hensel said. “We thank him for his decades of service and are proud to honor him with emeritus status.”

Lee, an ʻIolani School graduate and Yale University alumnus, was the first person of Asian ancestry to lead a major Hollywood studio, serving as president of production at TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures. He oversaw films like “Jerry Maguire,” “Philadelphia” and “As Good As It Gets” before returning to Hawaiʻi.

In the early 2000s, Lee was invited to “start a film school” at UH. He imagined a cross-campus network that could elevate creative media education statewide.

“Rather than just focusing on one campus at Mānoa, I visited every campus in the UH System,” Lee said. “I met with faculty, staff and students and saw what already existed, including the animation program at Kapiʻolani CC and the TV studios at Leeward CC, and thought, ‘What if we built something that connected all of them?’”

In January 2004, the UH Board of Regents formally established ACM, and Lee became its founding director. Over time, the initiative grew into a coordinated system offering specialized pathways in creative media, animation, gaming and digital content creation.

At UH West Oʻahu, ACM students now pursue degrees in game design, communications and other digital media fields. The School of Cinematic Arts at UH Mānoa focuses on narrative filmmaking and Indigenous storytelling. Many graduates work in Hawaiʻi’s growing creative economy, while others have joined companies like Pixar, Disney, HBO and Netflix.

“What made this possible was the advent of affordable digital technology,” Lee said. “Thanks to early support from donors and UH alumni, including Roy and Hilda Takayama and Jay Shidler, we gave students a ‘Digital Toolbelt’—Macs with editing software, cameras and sound equipment. It let them tell stories that were true to themselves and shareable with the world through online platforms.”

From the start, Lee emphasized that ACM wasn’t just about making films. “It was about preparing a workforce that could thrive in the future digital economy, in storytelling, animation, games, immersive media and beyond,” he said. 

Many of those early students have gone on to make significant contributions to film and television, including Daniel Ledoux Miller, co-director and co-writer of “Moana 2,” Bryson Kainoa Chun, a writer for “Moana 2” and “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.” who, along with fellow UH alumnus Alika Tengan, was named to the inaugural Indigenous List recognizing top Native screenwriters.

The $37-million ACM Student Production Center at UH West Oʻahu opened in 2022. It is adjacent to the site of a professional film and television studio currently being developed in partnership with UH. Lee said the integration of the studio with ACM will offer students paid internships and jobs in the industry.

“This is the natural next step in ACM’s evolution,” Lee said. “Combined with the UHWO Production Center, this complex will help elevate ACM to a global level. One of the project requirements is integration with ACM, which means our local students will have real opportunities—paid internships, mentorship and jobs with living wages.”

Even as he steps back, Lee is helping guide ACM’s evolution through new initiatives. Most recently, he has been actively involved with the Aloha AI Institute, a proposed UH initiative that, like ACM System, aims to unite all 10 UH campuses. The project will equip students with the tools and opportunities to explore AI’s role in creative fields, particularly in integrating Indigenous knowledge and cultural narratives.

Lee also helped create a new computational creative media degree at UH Mānoa ICS, launched in fall 2024, which prepares students to use AI tools in video games, animation and digital content. His push into esports led to Hawaiʻi’s largest tournament in 2024, the Hawaiʻi Esports Invitational, hosted at UH West Oʻahu. The event brought together six UH campuses, out-of-state universities such as Michigan State, and local high schools, showcasing how ACM initiatives are preparing students for future careers while supporting economic diversification.

“Everybody hopes they leave someplace better than how they found it,” Lee said. “Now we have hundreds of ACM graduates. Many are earning a living doing what they love, right here in Hawaiʻi, telling their stories to the broadest possible audience. That was always the goal.”