Due to the growing attention toward the academic innovation field and within the creative field of education, this paper will discuss the mediating power of student engagement on the ability of personality traits to shape the innovation performance of students. Based on the Five-Factor Model and the engagement theory, the study will seek to determine those traits that have a significant impact on innovation and the transfer of the personality into academic creativity in the form of engagement. The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional study design to sample 252 fourth-year undergraduate students taking undergraduate degree programs in drama, film, and television performance programs in five major Chinese universities. Self-report questions were validated and analyzed with the help of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). It was found that openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion were great predictors of student engagement, which positively contributed to academic innovation performance. Innovation results were partially mediated by the effects that openness and conscientiousness had on the results of engagement. The results also point to engagement as an influential process between personality and innovation that can be used by teachers and policy-makers in an attempt to promote creative academic achievement. Incorporating personality-sensitive engagement principles into the curriculum design can contribute to innovation in the students. Future studies need to consider more longitudinal dynamics and investigate other mediators, including motivation, self-efficacy, or institutional support.