Physical Production
Production Designer
Michael Norman Wong took the first step towards his creative future on his first day of kindergarten. Walking into the classroom and seeing all the drawings pinned to the walls was all it took for him to look at his mother and say, “I’m going to be an artist when I grow up.”
Michael’s artistic endeavors encompassed not only drawing, painting, and sculpting, but also acting, writing, and years of martial arts training. To the outsider, this may seem to be a vast array of unrelated pursuits, but to Michael, they are all one and the same. Finding various ways of expressing oneself honestly.
After eleven years working in advertising firms illustrating, designing graphics, and art directing, an opportunity to travel to Seville, Spain to work at the 1992 World Expo presented itself. It was here that Michael’s design work transitioned from that of two- dimensional print to the three-dimensional world of exhibitory.
A year later, upon returning to Vancouver, Michael was at a crossroads careerwise. A conversation with a neighbor, who happened to be a scenic painter, opened his eyes to the possibilities of work in the film industry. With Michael’s experience and skills in illustration, graphic design, and home renovation, a position in the Art Department of a film production was a natural fit.
Thirty-plus years later, though still not feeling all that grown up, he has indeed lived up to that proclamation made years ago in that kindergarten classroom.