Pia Clemente - first Fil-Am Oscar nominee

Pia Clemente was born in the Philippines but her family emigrated to the United States when she was 3 years old. She grew up in New Jersey but has been in LA for the past 10 years.

She attended Lehigh, then transferred to Barnard College(1990), Columbia University where she was an English major with a minor in theater and creative writing. In 1993, while a senior at Barnard, she directed her first film. Four years later, she produced another short film, Christmas in NY. The film won an Academy Award for Dramatic Short Student Film for best director for Mark Millhorne who was a graduate student at the time.

Clemente received M.F.A. at the American Film Institute in 1997 and worked in theater for two years. In 2000, she was staff producer at Orbit Productions, a commercial production company. Later, she became a freelancer producer working for commercial companies like Villains, the Artist’s Company, BOB Industries and Subliminal Pictures. She worked on commercial campaigns for Volkswagen, Sears, Carl's Jr, Mandalay Bay.

Among her film credits is the independent Filipino-American film The Debut. In 2004, she line - produced Our Time is Up which received an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film at the 78th academy awards (2006). She got the distinction of being the first Fil-Am to be nominated for an Oscar. She also became the first filipina-american to be elected to the academy of motion picture arts and sciences.

Film Credits:
Whoo-Ya, 2008 - producer
Our Time is Up -2004- producer
The Debut - 2000 - line producer
Baby Geniuses - 1999- production assistant
The Daytrippers - 1996 - production assistant (2nd unit)
The Awakening Fire -2008 - producer

References:
Ivy Women in Sports: Pia Clemente
Clemente '93 is First Filipino-American Woman Nominee in Academy History