Building on the legacy of the Newport Beach Film Festival, this four-day celebration showcases exceptional storytelling across networks and streaming platforms—from acclaimed series to emerging voices. Hosted at the historic Lido and Port Theaters, the festival brings together top industry professionals and the largest community of Guild and Television Academy voters outside of Los Angeles and New York. June 5–8, 2025.
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Korean-American actor Sung Kang became widely known as Han Lue, a member of the “Fast & Furious” crew in four films in the popular action series, which led to work in other action features like “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007) and roles in television series like “Power” (Starz, 2014- ). Born Kang Sung-Ho in Gainesville, Georgia on April 8, 1972, he was the son of South Korean immigrant parents who relocated throughout his childhood due to their obligations to the United States military. They eventually settled in California, where he attended the University of California, Riverside with the intention of earning a degree in law. To his parents’ dismay, Kang decided to become an actor, and headed to Los Angeles, where he landed minor roles on series like “Martial Law” (CBS, 1998-2000) and in features like “Pearl Harbor” (2000). His breakthrough role came in 2002 as a co-star and co-producer of “Better Luck Tomorrow” (2002), an independently financed crime picture with a predominantly Asian cast that also marked the directorial debut of Justin Lin, who would later cast Kang as a key supporting figure in the “Fast and Furious” franchise. Kang made his first appearance in the third title in the series, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006) playing the jittery, speed-loving Han Lue, who dies in the film’s conclusion. When the franchise reunited its original cast – including Vin Diesel and Paul Walker – for “Fast & Furious” (2009), the series’ timeline was reset to disregard the events in “Tokyo Drift,” thus reviving Han to become a key member of the on-screen team’s vehicular mayhem until “Fast & Furious 6” (2013), where he is seen returning to Japan and facing the demise that capped “Tokyo Drift.” The international success of the “Fast and Furious” films also gave Kang’s career profile a boost, and he enjoyed supporting roles in films like “Live Free or Die Hard” and “Ninja Assassin” (2009), as well as a rare venture into comedy as the president of Korea in the “Tae Do” sketches for “MADtv” (Fox, 1995-2009, The CW, 2016). Kang also starred in the short-lived Fox crime series “Gang Related” (2014), playing an FBI agent assisting a gang task force with the Los Angeles Police Department. He returned to television in 2017 in a supporting role on “Power” as an assistant U.S. attorney pursuing the series’ drug-dealing antihero, Ghost (played by Omari Hardwick).
ANT ANSTEAD IS BEST KNOWN FOR HOSTING CAR-CENTRIC TELEVISION SHOWS.
THE BRITISH NATIVE NOW RESIDES FULL TIME IN THE US AND HIS BACKGROUND IS AS VARIED AS IT IS IMPRESSIVE.
Ant joined the police force in 1999 at age 18, a decision that would dramatically impact his life. In 2003, he was appointed one of the youngest Tactical Firearms Team officers in UK history, receiving two commendations for acts of bravery. In 2005 Ant followed his passion into the automotive world.
Anstead funded his car based solo start up playing semi-professional football (soccer), amassing over 700 games over 17 years. Making history again, he was the only player to win Ryman League promotions in two positions – goalkeeper and striker.
From humble beginnings, when starting out, Ant renovated a farmer’s derelict cow shed in return for one year’s free rent, and from this new workshop he built his business. After three years at the farm on his own, Ant’s business took off and he moved to new larger premises and built a team of car builders. Ant built bespoke cars and one-off pieces of art for clients and collectors all over the world. As his reputation grew, Anstead attracted the attention of various television networks.
After initially turning down an offer to appear on British television, Ant finally agreed, when approached, to co-host For the Love of Cars in 2013. Ant’s versatility and natural on-camera presence allowed him to host TV shows in car, travel, engineering, homes and art categories as well several Live TV gigs too. By 2020, he had hosted 16 different TV shows, and is currently working on five more.
Anstead is well known to only take on projects that fascinate him, having turned down more than he’s done. He moved to the United States in 2017 to host Wheeler Dealers, the number one, most distributed show on The Discovery Channel.
He established Angel 22, his own production company. Ant’s extensive repertoire of television shows includes: For the Love of Cars (2014-2015), Building Cars Live (2015), New York: America’s Busiest City (2016), The Lost Lotus: Restoring a Race Car (2016), Chinese New Year: The Biggest Celebration on Earth (2016), Craft: I Made This (2016), World’s Most Expensive Cars (2017), Britain’s Greatest Invention (2017), Craft It Yourself (2017), Sunday Brunch Live (2017), Barrett-Jackson Live Auto Auction (2018), Wheeler Dealers (2017-2019), Ant Anstead Master Mechanic (2019), Barrett-Jackson Live (2019), HGTV’s Christina on the Coast (2019), World’s Greatest Cars (2020), Ant Anstead Working from Home (2020).
Emelia Hartford is a versatile and multi-talented SAG-AFTRA Actress, and Alumna of iO West Improv. She has appeared recently in two Netflix films – “A California Christmas: City Lights” and “That’s Amor”, a HBOMax film “A Hollywood Christmas” and soon to be seen in her much anticipated role in Sony’s Gran Turismo directed by Neil Blomkamp releasing in theaters Summer 23. She is also known for her roles in “From Mexico with Love,” directed by Jimmy Nickerson, and “Nightfall,” directed by Dave DeCoteau.
Emelia’s versatility also includes her accolades as a leading personality in the automotive industry as a record-breaking performance car builder, driver, and content creator. Out of her own small garage, she has built a world record breaking new-generation Corvette with one of the highest horsepower engines in the world, beating out major automotive companies to have one of the world’s fastest C8 Corvettes.
Her on-screen hosting appearances include Discovery’s “Young Guns” special episode of “SEMA: Battle of the Builders,” Netflix’s “Fastest Car,” and Chevrolet’s highly anticipated Next Generation Corvette Z06 National commercial and documentary, alongside NBA star Devin Booker. It was also recently announced that she will be a featured host of “Super Turbo Story Time” alongside actor/comedian Rob Corddry, an all-new adult animated series telling larger than life, untold and (mostly) true stories from the automotive world, from MotorTrend Group, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.
In the last 4 years she has amassed well over 3M followers across her platforms, all while challenging societal norms as a leading woman in the very man-dominated automotive industry. As a content creator and digital force, Emelia independently hosts her own YouTube Channel, where she builds and races a broad genre of cars generating well over 100M+ views.
Dan Mace is a creative and visionary Filmmaker, Youtuber, CCO (Chief Creative Officer) for Beast Philanthropy and the founder of JOE and ALL OF US Studios in Cape Town. Over his 10-year career behind the camera, he has directed over 100 commercials, music videos, documentaries and short films spanning across four continents.
Having joined YouTube in 2011, he has grown an audience of over 23 million subscribers between his personal and Beast philanthropy’s youtube channel combined. All in all he has garnered over 550 million+ views across the films he has made.
Dan writes, produces, directs and edits the majority of his own work and considers himself to be an all-round creative.
As a Director, his talent lies in his authentic story-telling abilities and honed technical knowledge both on and off set. However, he believes his greatest asset is his open mind and the ability to think differently in order to craft a meaningful narrative that moves people. He is an altruist with an earnest desire to see the world changed for the better and it is this desire that he uses to fuel and inspire his films.
Over the span of his career, Dan has won multiple accolades including three Young Director Awards at Cannes Lions, an African Crystal Film Grand Prix, Bronze Loerie Awards, Ciclope Africa Editing Craft awards, and the Creative Circle ad of the month, amongst others.