Stafford Arima was nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award as Best Director for his West End production of Ragtime. His production of Altar Boyz received the 2005 Best Off-Broadway Musical Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Musical.

Other works include: bare (New World Stages, Off-Broadway); Carrie (MCC Theatre, Off-Broadway); Allegiance (The Old Globe, San Diego); Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); The Tin Pan Alley Rag (Roundabout Theatre Company/Rodger Hess Productions); My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (2010 NYMF - NYMF Award for Excellence in Direction); Marry Me A Little (Cincinnati Playhouse); The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea (San Diego Rep. – nominated for 3 NAACP Theatre Awards); Esther Demsack (SPF Festival, The Public Theater); Bowfire (PBS television special/world tour); Candide (San Francisco Symphony); Ace (The Old Globe, CA, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis – winner of the 2006 Kevin Klein Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical); The Secret Garden (World AIDS Day concert, New York City); A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim (Boston Pops); Bright Lights, Big City (Prince Music Theater, PA); Guys and Dolls (Paper Mill Playhouse, NJ); Abyssinia (Goodspeed Musicals); Chef's Theater (The Supper Club, New York City); Rags - In Concert (Nokia Theatre Times Square, New York City); Aida (North Shore Music Theater, MA); A Little Night Music (Sacramento Music Circus); Total Eclipse (TSP Studio Theatre, Toronto); and Children's Letters to God (Off Broadway).

Additional companies of Altar Boyz include South Korea, Chicago (2007/2008 Jeff Awards nomination for Outstanding Director), Detroit, Bethesda and the 2006/07 and 2008/09/10 national tours. Arima also served as associate director for the Broadway productions of A Class Act and Seussical.

Arima studied at York University in Toronto where he was the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work.