James Nguyen

James Nguyen
Nguyen speaking at a screening of Birdemic: Shock and Terror in 2010
Born	James Nguyen (1966-09-01) September 1, 1966 (age 50) Danang, Vietnam
Nationality	Vietnamese
Occupation	Film director
Years active	2003–present
Children	Jennimai Nguyen

James Nguyen (born 1 September 1966) is a Vietnamese filmmaker known for directing the 2010 romantic horror film Birdemic: Shock and Terror, as well as its sequel Birdemic 2: The Resurrection.

Nguyen was born in Danang, Vietnam. He and his family fled the country shortly before the Fall of Saigon. He never received any formal training in filmmaking, but instead grew up watching the films of director Alfred Hitchcock, including 1958's Vertigo and 1963's The Birds. Nguyen went on to be a software salesman in Silicon Valley. He first picked up a camera in 1999.

In 2003, he directed the low-budget romantic film Julie and Jack. In 2005, he directed the science fiction thriller Replica, inspired by Vertigo, but it was not released until 2017; Nguyen blamed the outcome on the expensive storyboarding process and his casting decisions. Nguyen's popularity as a director rose in 2010 with the release of the film Birdemic: Shock and Terror. He was inspired to write the script for the film while spending time relaxing in Half Moon Bay, California, and much of the filming took place in the area surrounding the community. The film's under $10,000 budget was financed with his own income. Nguyen has cited The Birds and An Inconvenient Truth (2006) as inspiration for directing Birdemic.

During and since its release, Birdemic has been frequently considered to be one of the worst films of all time.Birdemic was featured as a movie riffed on by the cast of RiffTrax both as a standalone product and during one of their live shows, drawing further attention to the film and Nguyen. In February 2012, Nguyen began production on a sequel to the film, entitled Birdemic 2: The Resurrection. The film was released in 2013 to negative reviews.