Kayla Abuda Galang was born in Olongapo City, Philippines, and raised in San Diego, California, and Houston, Texas. A filmmaker drawing from her environment and communities to tell immersive character-driven stories, finding humor in idiosyncrasies and observed details.

In 2023, her latest short film When You Left Me on That Boulevard received the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and the Special Jury Award for Vision at SXSW Film & TV Film Festival. Her film Learning Tagalog With Kayla (2021) premiered and received an Audience Award at SXSW, and went on to screen at festivals such as Palm Springs, Indie Memphis, Encounters, and Reel Asian. She is currently developing two feature films: ’06-’07, a coming-of-age comedy set in mid-2000s southeast San Diego, and On Earth as it is in Heaven, a comedy about familial grief set in present-day Houston.