Celine Song

Celine Song Bio

Celine Song (born Song Ha-Young on 19 September 1988) is a Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter based in New York City. She is known for her plays such as Endlings and The Seagull on The Sims 4, as well as her acclaimed directorial film debut, Past Lives, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Her second film, Materialists, is set to be released in June 2025.

Early Life and Background

Celine Song was born in South Korea. When she was 12 years old, her family moved to Markham, Ontario, Canada. Her father, Song Neung-han, is a filmmaker, and her mother is an illustrator and graphic designer. Upon moving to Ontario, Song was given permission by her parents to select a new forename and chose Celine, believing it was inspired by a Céline Dion CD. Song attended public school at Markham District High School, where she began her journey into the arts.

Path to Hollywood

Celine Song wrote her first play, an adaptation of Prometheus, during a classics conference with the Markham District Classics Club. She graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, in 2010, where she studied psychology with a minor in philosophy. Initially aspiring to become a clinical psychologist, she shifted her focus to writing after taking a German literature course that exposed her to the works of Bertolt Brecht. She later earned her MFA in playwriting from Columbia University in 2014.

Celine Song Career

Early Career (2014-2018)

Celine Song’s early career was dedicated to developing her playwriting skills. She participated in the Ars Nova’s Play Group and was a Great Plains Theatre Conference Playwright. Song was also part of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group and held a writing fellowship with Playwrights Realm during the 2017-2018 season.

Breakthrough (2019-2023)

Song’s play Endlings premiered in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater and later had an off-Broadway run in March 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop. The play tells the story of three older Korean women haenyeos and a Korean-Canadian writer living in New York. In November 2020, she directed a live production of Chekhov’s The Seagull using The Sims 4 on Twitch for New York Theatre Workshop. Celine Song’s first television screenwriting job was as a staff writer for the first season of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time in 2021. Her directorial film debut, Past Lives, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023 and received critical acclaim. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

Notable Works and Milestones

Celine Song’s signature work, Past Lives, has been praised for its portrayal of the immigrant experience and universal themes of love and fate. The film has been compared to the works of Richard Linklater and Woody Allen. Following the success of Past Lives, Song’s next film, Materialists, is set to release in June 2025.

Celine Song Award Nominations

Celine Song has received notable nominations throughout her career, including two nominations for the Academy Awards in 2023 for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for her film Past Lives.

Celine Song Awards Won

Celine Song has won several accolades, including outstanding directorial achievement in a first-time feature film by the Directors Guild of America for Past Lives.