Jordan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He received his BFA in constitutional law and Mandarin at Oxford University and Bowdoin College. He received his MFA from NYU Tisch Asia with a dual degree in cinematography and directing.

His short films, Prank and Canvas, won jury prizes for Louis Vuitton's Journeys Awards, with jurors Wong Kar-Wai and Luca Guadagnino. His docu-drama, 5cm, about a struggling dancer from the National Ballet of China, premiered at Locarno Film Festival. Jordan's first feature, Dog Days, was selected for the Residence de Cannes, and premiered at Berlinale. It is the first Chinese film written and directed by an American to screen theatrically in China.

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Jordan has also directed short films for Louis Vuitton and Estée Lauder with Sofia Coppola, Gabriella Wilde, Liu Wen, Ludivine Sagnier, Emma Watson, and Fan Bing Bing. His fiction short, Turtle, premiered at New York Film Festival, was awarded Asian Short of the Year at the Hong Kong International Film Awards, and qualified for the Oscars’ shortlist.

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In 2018, his feature documentary, The Silk and the Flame, premiered at Berlinale, and was awarded the Clark Legacy Prize at Seattle International Film Festival. In 2020, he won the Coppola Short Film Awards, presided by jury president and Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff.  He is fluent in Mandarin, is an avid photographer, songwriter, and lives and works between China and the United States.

He is currently a Professor at New York University- Tisch School of the Arts.