Kelly Yu is a Swedish-born, New Orleans raised, writer and director whose genre-blending work explores the human condition through an often darkly comedic, absurd, and off-kilter lens. She first gained recognition at age 19 with her debut short film Plum Town, which won the Grand Jury Award at the Boston Independent Film Festival, the NFFTY New Talent Award for “Best Director Under 25,” and premiered online on the renowned platform Short of the Week. Her second short, Endling, premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim, subsequently qualifying it for the 97th Academy Awards. It is currently exhibiting as part of the series Are You Lonely Tonight? I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art throughout August 2026.
Most recently, she made her episodic directing debut on season 8 of Showtime/Paramount’s The Chi as one of the youngest directors in network history.
She is a current 2025-26 Steve Jobs Archive Fellow and an alumni of the Indeed Rising Voices Fellowship and Disney Television Directing Program. She holds a B.F.A from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and is based in LA developing her debut feature film ENDLING.