Esther Um

Esther (she/her/they/them) was born in Seoul, South Korea. They moved to the U.S with their family at eight years old. They graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Art in 2021, earning a BFA Drama and a BA in History. At NYU, she trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and Stonestreet Studios. At NYU, have studied method acting and have experience with both theatre and on-camera acting. ​ Since graduating she has been working with CPM Talent Management. She has taken part in several short films in the past year including Roadtrip, which she wrote and acted in. Roadtrip has screened at multiple film festivals, including Cat Fly or Die Halloween Film Fest, October Film Festival, and Yale Summer Cabaret: Summer of Love Film Festival. Their short films, LATE and Cupid were also accepted into the Stonestreet Screenwriting contest and produced into short films by Stonestreet Studios. In 2023, their short screenplay, Han, was awarded Best Horror Script at the New York Script Awards, Best Super Short at the Best Script Awards - London, finalist at the Paris Screenwriting Awards, and semi-finalist at the Santa Barbara Screenwriting Awards. That same year, their screenplay, Blue Hour became an Official Selection for the Indie Short Fest in LA and Santa Dev International Film Festival. ​ Esther is also the film festival coordinator for One & Other Productions, a production company that is dedicated to leveraging narrative content from underrepresented voices. As the festival coordinator, she is in communication with globally and regionally recognized film festivals, advocating for projects headlined and worked on mainly by artists of multi-cultural and marginalized identities. ​ As a storyteller, Esther is passionate about advocating and uplifting artists of the global majority and traditionally marginalized identities.