The 2008-09 year marks the Silver Anniversary of the Columbia-Barnard Athletics Consortium. In a year-long celebration, Columbia Athletics will pay tribute to the administrators, coaches and student-athletes who have brought distinction to Columbia Athletics. During the next few months, gocolumbialions.com will post profiles on the former student-athletes named to the "25 Most Influential" list and the Silver Anniversary honor roll. The next in the series is former women's tennis player and Academy-Award winning filmmaker Pia Clemente ?93BC.
Not many adults can trace their entire career span back to a specific moment. But Columbia alum Pia Clemente can do just that. Her Academy Award nominations, the films she's made, and the success she's found in show business can all be traced back to one thing: an injury on the tennis court.
Clemente, who had transferred from Lehigh to Barnard College in 1990, was hoping for a chance to play on Columbia's tennis team, and was happy when that chance arose.
"I was really excited that I was able to start [on the tennis team] right away,” Clemente said. “The team was really strong and very competitive."
All the while, Clemente, who was named Academic All-Ivy, harbored dreams of becoming a professional tennis player. But when an injury sidelined her for good, she had to find other ways to fill her time. And what was one of those ways? A theater class at Columbia, which inspired her to take a film class as well; consequently, Clemente produced a short film while at Barnard, entitled "Christmas in New York," that won the prestigious Academy Award for Dramatic Short Student Film in 1997.
An English major with a minor in theater and creative writing, Clemente graduated in 1993 and worked in theatre for two years. She moved on to a production assistant position for the renowned documentary filmmaker Maysles Films, and was a receptionist for a commercial production company.
But Clemente wanted to learn more. Or at least, that's what she thought. She was accepted to the American Film Institute's Master of Fine Arts program, but almost didn't go.
"I had just gotten a promotion at work and declined [admission],” Clemente said. “But my father called them and asked ?Please give her a couple of days - I think this is her dream,'" and she decided to go. "I went out there with a computer and a suitcase," she said.
In 1997, after graduating from AFI, Clemente helped produce a feature length independent film?the Filipino American flick The Debut. But it was her work in 2005 that put her on the map in Hollywood.
In 2006, Clemente joined an exclusive group, as she was nominated for an Academy Award with Rob Pearlstein for producing the short film (Live Action) "Our Time Is Up” ? a film about a psychiatrist who turns brutally honest on his neurotic patients after learning he has six months to live.
Clemente, who was born in Manila and moved to the United States when she was three years old, became the first Filipina-American woman to be nominated for an Oscar. Four months later she was elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, again as the first Filipina-American woman.
The nomination reinvigorated Clemente's passion for filmmaking, as she had been considering leaving the business.
But she realized “that I had this path in front of me and I had nothing to lose by walking down it. I'm still trying to figure out my way," Clemente said. “In addition talent, you need perseverance. It's okay to be discouraged: it's a tough business. [But you] just keep trying. With regard to the future, I'm fortunate to do what I do, but no matter what happens, I'll keep walking."
This article contained excerpts of interviews by Stephen Eschenbach at www.ivy50.com, and Ana La O, from the UCLA Asia Institute.
