Age: 53
female
Ava Marie DuVernay (/ˌdjuːvərˈneɪ/; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. She is a recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY. After making her directorial debut with I Will Follow (2010), DuVernay won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first black woman to win the award. For her work on Selma (2014), a biopic about Martin Luther King Jr., DuVernay became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the film went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her other film credits include the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary 13th (2016) and the Disney fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018), the latter making her the first African-American woman to direct a film with a $100 million budget. In 2023, she directed the biographical film Origin based on Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020). DuVernay's television credits include the OWN drama series Queen Sugar (2016) and two Netflix drama limited series: When They See Us (2019), based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case, and Colin in Black & White (2021), based on the teenage years of NFL player Colin Kaepernick. In 2017, DuVernay was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2020, she was elected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences board of governors as part of the directors branch. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ava DuVernay, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ava DuVernay
Director
for Director in Countee: Voice of a Generation
Suggested by kamsismith
The series opens with Cullen’s early years as an orphan raised by his grandmother in New York City, exploring the complexities of his upbringing and education. It follows his ascent as a brilliant young poet who, despite societal barriers, earns acclaim for his lyrical prowess, winning major literary awards. His friendship with other luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance—Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke—serves as a rich narrative thread, portraying the collaborative and often contentious relationships among Black intellectuals of the time. As Cullen grapples with themes of race, religion, and sexuality, the series highlights his internal conflicts—an educated Black man seeking acceptance in a world torn by racial discrimination and segregation. His struggles to reconcile his Christian faith with his identity and his efforts to navigate the expectations of both Black and white audiences add emotional depth to the portrayal. The series also delves into his personal relationships, including his marriage to Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois, and his later years as an educator and playwright.
