--- name: "James Wong" canonical: "https://film.one/person/james-wong" fi1m_id: "james-wong" imdb_id: "nm0939128" tmdb_id: 57134 wikidata_id: "Q698951" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "20 April 1959" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 59 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-22T21:06:36.349914+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # James Wong ## Identity James Wong - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/james-wong - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** james-wong - **IMDb ID:** nm0939128 - **TMDB ID:** 57134 - **Wikidata ID:** Q698951 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wong_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q698951, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939128/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/57134 Director and writer. Born 20 April 1959 in Hong Kong, China. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 20 April 1959, Hong Kong, China - **Active:** 1993–2011 - **Also known as:** Jim Wong - **Frequently works with:** [Tim Minear](https://film.one/person/tim-minear.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 59, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 84 (1), 2000s 34 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wong_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q698951, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939128/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/57134 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*The X-Files*](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on James Wong > We rate James Wong most highly for helping to make *The X-Files* such absorbing television. His *Final Destination* films show how much invention he can bring to the business of killing people. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson make the unexplained events in *The X-Files* (1993) worth staying with, even when the programme becomes too fond of keeping secrets. We enjoyed their company enough to forgive some of that delay. James Wong helped establish the tone, characters and structure that made this possible, working alongside his writing partner Glen Morgan. We rate him most highly here, contributing to a series whose appeal depends on more than the next fright. Wong and Morgan helped develop both the monster-of-the-week episodes and the longer-running mythology. The individual stories give the programme fresh threats; the mythology asks us to keep watching for answers, sometimes longer than we would like. Wong joined in 1993 as a writer and co-executive producer, and made his directing debut on the programme in 1996. By then, he had already helped to establish what an episode could do, making the writing partnership essential to any account of his work behind the camera. His feature debut, *Final Destination* (2000), puts elaborate death sequences at the centre, and *Final Destination 3* (2006) returns to that strength. These films find invention in how someone might die, upsetting the expectations that audiences bring to slasher films. That is a specific, useful talent in horror, though ingenuity about a death is not enough on its own to make us care about a character. It is the character writing of *The X-Files* that keeps our recommendation warmest there. *The One* (2001), starring Jet Li, took Wong into action; *Dragonball Evolution* (2009) met a poor response from critics and audiences. His subsequent television work has included writing and producing on *American Horror Story*, *9-1-1* and the *X-Files* revivals of 2016 and 2018. We would not treat that varied list as a promise that every title will suit. Start with *The X-Files*, and allow a little patience for questions it is reluctant to answer. ## Biography James Wong (also credited as Jim Wong) is a Hong Kong-born American television writer, producer and film director. He was born on 20 April 1959. Wong frequently collaborates with writing partner Glen Morgan. They joined the production team of the Fox series *The X-Files* (1993) as writers and producers in its early seasons, contributing key episodes such as "Squeeze" and "Home". Wong also directed episodes including "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", for which he received an Emmy nomination. The pair later co-created *Space: Above and Beyond* (1995) and worked on *Millennium* (1996). Wong directed and co-wrote the feature films *Final Destination* (2000) and *Final Destination 3* (2006), as well as *The One* (2001). He has also directed episodes of series including *9-1-1* (2018) and returned to *The X-Files* for later seasons. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, x-files.fandom.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Dragonball Evolution* (2009), Fi1m 34, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/dragonball-evolution.md) - *The X-Files* (1993), Fi1m 84, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) ## Complete filmography (25) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Almost Paradise* (2020), series, Writer - *9-1-1* (2018), series, Director, Writer - *Rosemary's Baby* (2014), series, Teleplay, Executive Consultant, Creator - *The Transcend* (2014), as Bao Jin - *American Horror Story* (2011), series, Writer, Co-Executive Producer, Executive Producer - *Tower Prep* (2010), series, Director - *The Event* (2010), series, Director, Writer - *Dragonball Evolution* (2009), Director — Fi1m 34, [page](https://film.one/film/dragonball-evolution.md) - *Black Christmas* (2006), Producer - *Final Destination 3* (2006), Director, Screenplay, Producer - *Willard* (2003), Producer - *The One* (2001), Director, Screenplay, Producer - *The Perfect Souffle: Testing "Final Destination"* (2000), Thanks - *Final Destination* (2000), Director, Screenplay - *The Others* (2000), series, Writer - *The Wonder Cabinet* (1999), Writer, Executive Producer - *Skip Chasers* (1998), Writer, Executive Producer - *Millennium* (1996), series, Producer, Writer - *Space: Above and Beyond* (1995), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator - *The X-Files* (1993), series, Writer, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) - *The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage* (1991), series, Creator - *Booker* (1989), series, Writer - *21 Jump Street* (1987), series, Director, Writer, Story, Teleplay - *The Boys Next Door* (1986), Screenplay - *Rise of the Empress*, series, Executive Producer ## Gallery - ![James Wong](https://film.one/media/person/62722/gallery-b1ba03fc3f7b.jpg) James Wong — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Jim_Wong_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Jim_Wong_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![James Wong](https://film.one/media/person/62722/gallery-f83c6127dd44.jpg) James Wong — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/james-wong