Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Temi moved to northern California at age 15 to pursue an Electrical Engineering degree at San Jose State University. He graduated with honors and worked in Silicon Valley as a microchip product engineer before having an epiphany at a hospital when he witnessed his nephew’s birth following a difficult 22-hour labor.

He left for graduate school, concurrently pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Motion Picture and Television, with emphasis in Directing, at Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

His graduate thesis film RENOUNCING ANGELICA, which was lauded by the San Diego Union Tribune as "a heart rending short work", was awarded a $10K BNP Paribas Humanitarian Prize for raising awareness of the life saving promise of bone-marrow donations. It also won Best Short at ION International Film Festival, Silicon Valley Film Festival, Gold Lion Film Festival and was honored on BET Lens on Talent.

His next short HABITUAL AGGRESSION, which explores the emotional costs of domestic abuse, premiered at Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for an Africa Movie Academy Award and won Best Short at Canada International Film and Television Festival.

His latest, SEEDLESS - a teaser short for his debut feature - addresses the unconscious gender and racial bias that puts underrepresented minorities at disadvantage for venture capital backing. The film was picked as finalist in the top 3% of the Lionsgate/Codeblack Jack Daniels national competition.