Born in the filmmaking capital of the world, Hollywood, California, Scott Shaw spent the early part of his youth growing up in South Los Angeles. He then returned to Hollywood for his teen years.

Though living at the center of the film industry, Shaw was not drawn to acting or directing in his early years. He instead placed his focus on his two lifelong passions: the martial arts and eastern mysticism. From this zeal he has emerged as a respected teacher and prolific author on both of these subjects.

After spending his twenties continually returning to Asia, he finally entered the film industry in his early thirties. Quickly moving from actor onto producer and director, Shaw has created numerous feature films, music videos, and documentaries based upon what he calls Zen Filmmaking. This is a free-form style of filmmaking that does not use a formalized script and is designed to cause the filmmaker to employ spontaneous inspiration.

To label Shaw as artistically diverse would be an understatement. Aside from the film industry he is a novelist, poet, artist, photographer, and musician. His musical compositions often find their way into the soundtracks of his films.