Joseph Le

Mason alumnus, Joseph Le, knew that when he got the chance to work with one of his biggest idols in the film industry, there was no way he would let this moment go. In 2022, he went from shooting his own films to working as an action designer on the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The journey from a graphic designer with a “9 to 5” office job to a film set on the other side of the world wasn’t a fast or an easy one for Le. Growing up in Fairfax, VA and living with his parents during college, Le wanted to major in film, but was worried that he should choose a traditional path that led straight into guaranteed employment after graduation. Knowing the demand for graphic design in the DMV, he thought that this was a surefire way to secure his future and keep his parents happy. He enjoyed his graphic design classes, furthering his understanding of impactful visual experiences and how to organize information.

During his junior year, Le took an animation class with Mason School of Art Professor Gail Scott White and found his passion for creating moving stories rekindled. He threw himself completely into his final project for the class, spending days rendering in the on-campus labs until late into the night.

After graduation, Le was unable to dull the nagging feeling that he was denying himself the path that was in his heart. In order to scratch that itch, Le began helping out his film major friends on some of their own local shoots, learning from them and teaching himself animation on evenings and weekends. A devoted student of kung fu and martial arts since high school, Le wasn’t sure he should focus on those subjects in his filmmaking, but his friends encouraged him, saying that his deep knowledge of the subject would lend authenticity to his work. He used his company vacation time to do re-shoots with friends, and would fund his projects himself or through Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaigns he and his friends shared.

Hoping to continue his latest streak of making something good, Le returned to the U.S. recently after spending five months working on a new live action anime film “Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac” in Budapest, Hungary. His professional network has only grown and a feature film on a major streaming network is possible in the next year or two.

Read about Joseph's work on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.