Jeanny Tsai Bio

Jeanny Tsai is a photographer, storyteller, and lover of life who specializes in documentary, ethnographic, and portrait photography for fine art, editorial, and advertising realms. Jeanny keeps one foot in the East Coast of the US and the rest of her belongs to the World. She has a passion for photographing people and cultures worldwide that express their devotion to the divine through rituals and celebrations. She also seeks to photograph people and places that are facing environmental or social challenges that threaten established culturally rich ways of life. Some of the countries where she has photographed projects of this nature include Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the US. She desires that her photos inspire others through beauty and convey a positive, uplifting testimony of people and places despite the existing external circumstances. She is constantly inspired by all the people she meets who greet her with openness and a desire to share their stories and lives.

Jeanny is a documentary film and non-fiction television director/producer with over 24 years experience. She has directed and produced documentary programs for major cable television and streaming networks including National Geographic Wild, National Geographic, A & E, Discovery Channel, Discovery+, TLC, MTV, VH1, WETv, Travel Channel, and on documentary films for theatrical and streaming release. As a director of photography, she has filmed award winning documentary films that were theatrically released including the acclaimed, ground-breaking film, The Aggressives, directed by Daniel Peddle, which she also co-produced. She was also a cinematographer on the critically acclaimed follow up film, Beyond The Aggressives which premiered in theaters at the end of 2023. Beyond the Aggressives won an award for outstanding best documentary film at the 35th GLAAD media awards.

Jeanny is also a content creator for entrepreneurs and brands which includes photography and creating branding videos from inception through post production, and overall advising and creative directing on all aspects of storytelling and visual presentation.

Jeanny’s photos have been exhibited in group and solo shows in galleries, published in magazines, and published in collaboration with NGOs including Amazon Watch. She teaches documentary filmmaking for the purpose of empowering storytellers to create social change and has taught a module on ethical storytelling in indigenous communities for the Young Environmental Journalists program at the United Nations. Jeanny had a solo show of her photo series First Nations: Dancers and Wisdom Keepers in 2019 at the Six Depot Gallery in Massachusetts. Her photo book Retratos do Recôncavo was awarded one of best in show for the annual photo book competition at the David Orton Gallery in Hudson, NY and at The Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts in 2016. In 2021, she was a featured artist at the acclaimed Rites of Passage 20/20 Vision, an immersive art and performance based living museum co-created by a collective of women of color artists and performers. Her photographs of women of the Asian Diaspora and their ancestors were shown on a wall in the “Grief Room” alongside walls of photos of women from the African, Americas, and Middle Eastern Diasporas. She also documented each room for the entire run of the show for an upcoming fine art book for Rites of Passage 20/20 vision.

She aims for her stories to create greater awareness of the social and cultural issues in diverse communities and create social change out in the world.

Jeanny is a member of Authority Collective, Diversify Photo, Photographers Without Borders, and Women Photograph.

Languages: Fluent in English, Mandarin, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Contact for assignments, consults, and fine art sales below.