Indie director Dennis Lee is among the many Korean Americans breaking into the Hollywood scene as of late. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lee has teamed up with Julia Roberts again (Lee previously directed Roberts in Fireflies in the Garden) to remake his original short film, Jesus Henry Christ.

Lee describes his Student Academy Award-winning film as “a modern day immaculate conception and Christ parable about a test tube baby’s quest to find his genetic father” with a character who is “dysfunctional, absurd, and imperfectly perfect.” The comedy starring Michael Sheen and Toni Collette was recently screened at the Tribeca Film Festival where it received praise for its “playful charm” and “visual flair.”

Another director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, has been receiving a lot of buzz after her movie Kung Fu Panda 2 hit theaters last month. Being a woman and a Korean American director is a double rarity in the film industry, and Nelson is both. An article in the LA Times on Nelson recognized that she is reshaping the film industry as the first female to independently direct a film for any major Hollywood studio – a radical accomplishment, Korean or not.

[Photo of Dennis Lee: Larry Busacca/Getty Images; Jennifer Yuh: Kevin Winter/Getty Images]