ABOUT

GYALKHANG FILMS brings untold stories rooted in the Tibetan diaspora to global audiences with a forward-looking spirit. We embrace emerging technologies to elevate storytelling across all mediums. Currently focused on producing our own projects, in the near future we plan to produce other films under our banner.

RABYOUNG THONDEN GYALKHANG

Tibetan-American filmmaker, designer, actor, and martial artist holding a Ni-Dan (2nd-degree black belt) in Goju-Ryu Karate.  Born in Dharamsala, India, he immigrated to the United States at age sixteen to attend boarding school at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS).

He studied business at North Seattle College and Seattle University before launching a career in finance at a private equity hedge fund, where he focused on equity market securities arbitrage.

From finance, he transitioned into mobile technology, notably working on the Latin American mobile launch of an animated series with comic book legend Stan Lee. He later moved into advertising, creating campaigns for clients including Telus, Taco Bell, Disney Mobile, Red Bull, and DraftFCB.

To pursue his creative interests, he studied multimedia design at the Seattle Creative Academy. In 2007, he wrote, produced, and directed the documentary Blood Over Nangpa La, which chronicled the plight of Tibetan children fleeing their homeland. Moving in front of the camera, he co-starred in the 2019 film The Sweet Requiem, which premiered as an Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In 2026, he completed WAITING, marking his narrative debut as writer, director, producer, editor, sound designer, VFX artist, and lead actor.

Brief Family History

• Great-Grandfather: Lhundup Sherpa Gyalpo ("Sherpa" meaning "Easterner" in Tibetan, not the Nepalese ethnic group) was one of Lhasa's prominent merchants who, commissioned by the 13th Dalai Lama through Tsipön Lungsharwa (Lungshar Dorje Tsegyal, 1880–1938) to equip Tibet's newly formed modern standing army, leveraged his commercial networks in the 1910s to broker a discreet state acquisition of British Lee–Enfield Mk I rifles, introducing them under his designated Tibetan name, Engi Kardom ("short-barreled English rifle").

• Grandfather: Pasang Tsering Khangsar was one of the founding partners of Lhasa’s very first movie theater in the 1940s, the historic Dekyi Waynor ("Enchanted Light of Happiness").

• Father: The late Losang Thonden was a prominent scholar, the former Secretary of Education for the Tibetan government-in-exile, and a cultural consultant and actor in major Hollywood films, including Little Buddha, Seven Years in Tibet, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

• Mother: served as the Deputy Secretary of Finance for the Tibetan government-in-exile and is the niece of Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen, the 5th Reting Rinpoche. The Regent of Tibet who led the search that identified the 14th Dalai Lama. She later became a celebrated culinary pioneer, introducing Tibetan-Lhasa fine dining with a modern fusion touch to the Pacific Northwest. In 2011, The Seattle Times named her restaurant, Tingmomo, one of the top ten in the city. She also appeared on KOMO-TV and the Food Network’s Taste of America with Jeffrey Saad before retiring in 2018.