Born of Malay, Portuguese and Peranakan-Chinese parentage, Izmir uses his identity crisis as a persistent source to seek truth and authenticity in his work. At a young age, his life completely changed after he saw Michelangelo’s Pieta and read his quote, "I saw an angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free". Today he believes perfection can be found in every work he does; every project, and every design. He believes collaboration to be a critical part in the process of working in theater, and believes theater and art are meant to make the world a better place, and therefore we should always try to be nicer to each other. His recent design credits include Through The Fire (59E59/LAByrinth Theater), Florencia En El Amazonas (Auditorio De Tenerfie Spain), A Christmas Carol in Harlem (Classical Theater of Harlem), Round Table (Fault Line Theater); Happy Days starring Diane Wiest (Theater For A New Audience); Twelfth Night (Irondale Center, New School), The Late Wedding and 1001 (Teatro LATEA, Columbia Stages); The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Elm Shakespeare Company). Other credits include Big River: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Unquowa Repertory Theater); Deer and the Lovers, and The Troublesome Reign of King John (Yale School of Drama); Cloud Tectonics, Touch (Yale Cabaret); Dairyland, and The Guadalupe (Chautauqua Theater Company); Nanyang: the musical (International Festival of Arts, Singapore); Yusof, The Gunpowder Trail, Hearth (The Esplanade Theatre Studio, Singapore); Nadirah, Charged and Not Counted (Teater Ekamatra, Singapore).
He recently received nominations for Best Scenic Design at the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (Happy Days) and Outstanding Design for Small or Fringe Theater (Vietgone) at the Elliot Norton Awards in Boston USA. Izmir holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama and a BA from the National University of Singapore.