IN-HOUSE  DIRECTOR

Film Director

Over the years, Jimmy Choong's filmmaking journey has undergone a fascinating evolution. Initially renowned for his comedic flair, Jimmy gradually infused his work with an artistic touch, incorporating elaborate set designs to elevate brands' commercials in the competitive market landscape. Recently, his style has taken a more stylistic turn, influenced by his background in the arts. This shift has attracted the attention of beauty brands seeking to enhance their content.

Jimmy's commitment to his craft remains unyielding. He actively pursues further education, attending workshops, masterclasses, and training sessions covering a wide array of disciplines including directing, scriptwriting, cinematography, art direction, acting, and stage combat. With a wealth of experience and a perpetual hunger for knowledge, Jimmy consistently delivers commercial works of exceptional quality, captivating audiences and surpassing client expectations.

In 2007, Jimmy joined Astro Entertainment Sdn Bhd (AESB) as an on-air promo producer and director. He has produced and directed promo campaigns for signature TV shows, such as Akademi Fantasia, Jangan Lupa Lirik, and Sehati Berdansa, among others. Some of his key highlights during his stint at AESB included directing pilot TV programs for Astro RIA, as well as directing special projects for Astro Hitz Korea & Independent TV in Bangladesh, and winning 19 awards in PromaxBDA World, PromaxBDA Asia, and New York Festival Television & Film Award.

In 2011, Jimmy decided to pursue his interest in feature film projects. He has directed two telemovies for RTM, and he was the co-director of a Chinese action comedy feature film “Firefly.” Concurrently, he directed TV commercials for advertising agencies, mainly assigned to the humor genre. Some of his signature works can be seen in famous local brands such as Ah Huat White Coffee, Ali Cafe, Mister Potato, and Nandos. In recent years, he has started working on
beauty product genre reels. Backed by his vast experience in different varieties of genre reels, Jimmy becomes an invaluable asset in any project, helping clients maximize budget to achieve effective commercial works without compromising quality.

Jimmy showed signs of interest in arts and graphics since entering high school. He was a cartoonist and columnist for the school’s Vision Magazine. He then proceeded to develop his natural talents by entering the Center for Advanced Design (Cenfad) Malaysia, an affiliate of Parson School of Design New York City, under scholarship after being rewarded as the Best Student for the Foundation Year 2002. His skills obtained during the two years there encompass a wide and versatile range; from fine art skills including, painting, sculpting, story-boarding, animation, sound recording, film editing and directing.

He has been actively involved in various events like Malaysian short film competition, voluntary work and conducting art classes for the underprivileged and disable children. He attended the 5th ASEAN - JAPAN Youth Camp in LAO PDR and become one of the representatives of Malaysia at the ASEAN Culture Week 2002 in Cambodia after involving in the young artist group SONNERATIA initiated by The National Art Gallery. Jimmy was also one of the youngest talent among the four selected representative of Malaysia for the 2nd BERLINALE Talent Campus in Berlin (2004), an arena for know how and inspiration. His travel funding for the event was partially funded by The National Art Gallery Malaysia.

In 2005 Jimmy was selected to attend the YOUNG GLOBAL CITIZENS: Connecting Futures Youth Camp in Indonesia. It was a global British Council program involving UK, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia. The year later he was commission by the British council Philippines as Documentary director for the Young Global Citizen Camp 2006 (YGCP).

Being a dynamic and enthusiastic participant, he has won an impressive number of awards including 1st Prize winner of the Justin Louis Award First Freedom film fest & Silver Trophy Award in Nokia AVMaker Awards 1st shot in 2003. In the same year, he competed in the Cyberjaya Digital Video Competition 2003 and won One Gold, Silver and Two Bronze Trophy for his short-films. The year later 2004 at the same Competition he won 3 Gold Trophy for his Documentary and Shorts. He was the finalist for the NOKIA: MOBILE Filmmaker Competition in 2006 and NOKIA: NSeries You Make It Reel Competition in 2007.

Besides filmmaking, he involves in voluntary community works, children art facilitating and workshops. He teaches video classes in Hanxing College and facilitated a group of young student filmmaker teams from Han Chiang College (Penang) and TAR College for the independent short film project. He also apart of the Notthatbalai Art Festival coordinator committee and was hired as technical Manager for the SATU KALI performance Art Symposium, the first Performing Art Symposium in Malaysia.

Kancil Award 2017
Merit Award
Category: Best use of film (Broadcast) - Single
Agency: Leo Burnett
Client: Samsung
‘Siber-Turahim’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2012
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion / Open & IDs
Category: Soundtrack/ Audio mix : Promotion / Open & IDs
‘Akademi Fantasia 9 Music Video’ | Editor | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2012
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion / Open & IDs
Category: Camerawork : Promotion / Open & IDs
‘Saya Anak Malaysia Music Video’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2012
Silver World Medal Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion / Open & IDs
Category: Art Direction: Promotion / Open & IDs
‘Astro 2011 Line Up - Water World’ | Producer | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2012
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion / Open & IDs
Category: Station/Network ID
‘Astro 2011 Line Up - Water World’ | Producer | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2012
Bronze World Medal Award - Television - Art & Technique
Category: Original Music
‘Astro 2011 Line Up - Water World’ | Producer | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2011
Finalist Certificate Award
Category: Television- Music Video
‘Tom Tom Bak S5 - Opening Montage | Supervising Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA ASIA 2010 | SILVER Trophy Award
Best Comedy Promo
Jangan Lupa Lirik Season 3 (Don’t Forget Your Lyrics)
Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2010
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion
Category: Direction: Promotion
‘Astro Awani 7:45’ | Supervising Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2010
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion
Category: Direction: Promotion Spot
‘Astro Awani - Two Side to Every Story’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2010
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion
Category: Direction: Promotion Spot
‘Astro Merdeka’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2010
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion
Category: Editing: Promotion Spot
‘Astro Merdeka’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2010
Finalist Certificate Award - Television - Art & Technique: Promotion
Category: Original Music : Promotion Spot
‘Awani - The World is following 501’ | Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA ASIA 2009 | GOLD Trophy Award
Best Entertainment/ Variety Campaign
Jangan Lupa Lirik (Don’t Forget Your Lyrics)
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA ASIA 2009 | GOLD Trophy Award
PSA Challenge
Habitat for Humanity Singapore
Supervising Director | Jimmy Choong

WORLD PROMAX BDA 2009 | SILVER Trophy Award
Best Art Direction & Design : Image Promo
Awani - The World is following 501
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA Design World Gold North America Awards 2009
Finalist for Best Collaborative Effort
Awani - The World is following 501
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA Design World Gold North America Awards 2009
Finalist for Best Art Direction & Design : Image Promo
Awani - Two Side to Every Story
Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2009
Finalist Certificate Award - International TV Programming & Promotion
Category: Promotion Spot/ Openings and ID’s/ Entertainment Program Opener & Titles
‘Geng Bas Sekolah’ | Producer | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2009
Finalist Certificate Award - International TV Programming & Promotion
Category: Promotion Spot/ Animation (Non-Computer): Promo
‘Aksi Murai Skrin Amatur’ | Director | Liyana Ta | Technical Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA ASIA 2009 | GOLD Trophy Award
Best Entertainment/ Variety Campaign
Jangan Lupa Lirik (Don’t Forget Your Lyrics)
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA ASIA 2009 | GOLD Trophy Award
PSA Challenge
Habitat for Humanity Singapore
Supervising Director | Jimmy Choong

WORLD PROMAX BDA 2009 | SILVER Trophy Award
Best Art Direction & Design : Image Promo
Awani - The World is following 501
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA Design World Gold North America Awards 2009
Finalist for Best Collaborative Effort
Awani - The World is following 501
Director | Jimmy Choong

PROMAX BDA Design World Gold North America Awards 2009
Finalist for Best Art Direction & Design : Image Promo
Awani - Two Side to Every Story
Director | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2009
Finalist Certificate Award - International TV Programming & Promotion
Category: Promotion Spot/ Openings and ID’s/ Entertainment Program Opener & Titles
‘Geng Bas Sekolah’ | Producer | Jimmy Choong

New York Festival International Television Broadcast Award 2009
Finalist Certificate Award - International TV Programming & Promotion
Category: Promotion Spot/ Animation (Non-Computer): Promo
‘Aksi Murai Skrin Amatur’ | Director | Liyana Ta | Technical Director | Jimmy Choong

PNB 360 Shortfilm Competition 2014 - Second Place Winner
Shortfilm Title : Penny Nadia Bakri
Director | Jimmy Choong

SONY Vaio C Series Video Competition 2007 - 3rd Place

The NOKIA Mobile Filmmakers 2006 Awards Competition Semi-Finalist (Top Ten)

Astro Chinese Short Film Award 2005
Have Balls?– Nomination for Best Editing (Open Category)

Cyberjaya Digital Video Competition 2004- Digital Expressions:
Gold Trophy Award – ASEAN Youth Camp 2003- Documentary (Open Category)
Gold Trophy Award – ASEAN Youth Camp 2003- Home Video (Open Category)
Gold Trophy Award – One Night – Humor/Spoof (Open category)

Freedom Filmfest 2004 - 1st Prize winner of the Justin Louis Award in the student Category

Cyberjaya Digital Video Competition 2003-
Silver Award - ‘Cinta MiniDV’ Drama – Professional Level
Bronze Award - ‘Apa Yang Kau Suka’ - Tourism Malaysia – Professional Level
Bronze Award - ‘Semalam Empat Jiwa’ Drama – College Individual

The NOKIA AV maker Awards 1st Shot 2003- Silver Trophy Award.
Handphone, DV, 10sec, 2002
Director | Jimmy Choong