When Leon Cheo was growing up in Singapore, he wanted to watch the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” movie but his parents forbade him to because they thought that it was violent and unsuitable for children. He was devastated because all his cousins could go. But that did not stop him from falling in love with movies and developing an interest in telling queer stories because he did not see himself represented on screen when he was growing up and understood the power of representation in movies.

Now based in Los Angeles, Leon is the creator, writer and director of the Emmy-nominated short form series “People Like Us”. His latest short film “302” screened in Hawaii, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2022, he was selected for season two of the Hillman Grad / Indeed Rising Voices program in which he is mentored by Destin Daniel Cretton to make “The 25th Filial Exemplar” which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

Other highlights include: “SIN-SFO” which competed at the Oscar-qualifying 25th Austin Film Festival, and won Best Live Action and Best Director at the 2019 National Youth Film Awards in Singapore; “The Three Sisters” which won ‘Best Short Film’ at the 2012 NETPAC-Jogja Asian Film Festival; “Move Out Notice” which broadcast on the Lifetime (Asia) channel and nominated for Best Script at the Singapore Short Film Awards.

Commercially, Leon has worked with KFC, HSBC, 7-Eleven, Channel NewsAsia, Pink Dot SG, and government ministries and agencies. A graduate of Chapman University with a BFA in Creative Producing, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a diploma in Film, Sound & Video, Leon is also a BAFTA Connect member, and an alum of Berlinale Talents (2014), Asian Film Academy (2013) and Talents Tokyo (2012).