Pema Dhondup

Pema Dhondup Gakyil, who is professionally credited as Pema Dhondup, is a Tibetan film director and actor. He directed and produced We're No Monks and The Man from Kathmandu (2019), and he provided voiceovers for Tenzin in the Uncharted series of video games. He has resided in Los Angeles, California, since 2004.

Biography Dhondup was born in Tibet. Following the Chinese annexation of Tibet, his family fled to Jomsom, Nepal, before settling in Himachal Pradesh, India. Over the next six years, he produced documentaries, commercial advertising, institutional films, and television series. The film was screened at the 2004 Himalayan Film Festival and received mixed reviews from critics and audiences; according to Nyay Bhushan of Phayul.com, it "attempts to deconstruct the image of Tibetans as peaceful monks awash in Technicolor glory in Hollywood".

In 2013, Dhondup wrote and directed a short film called Arise, a drama which won Best Director and Special Jury Prize in the Free Spirit Film Festival.

In 2019, Dhondup directed The Man from Kathmandu, an action thriller about radicalism. It stars Gulshan Grover in his Nepalese film debut, Hameed Sheikh, Anna Sharma, and Karma Shakya in the lead roles. The film was made on a budget of five crore Nepalese Rupees ( million) and was filmed in Kathmandu and Los Angeles. The film has received mixed reviews from audiences and critics, some critics rating the film one out of five. In an interview with The Kathmandu Post, Dhondup said he wanted to make a "film that would expose Nepal and its heritage to the world".

Acting Dhondup has voiced the character Tenzin, a Tibetan man who is unable to speak English, in the video game series Uncharted. Since his first appearance in 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Dhondup has portrayed the character in 2011's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and 2016's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The character is motion-captured by Robin Atkin Downes.

Filmography

Films

Video games

Awards +YearCeremonyCategoryWorkResultRefs.2013Free Spirit Film FestivalBest DirectorArise Special Jury Prize