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 Estelita: The Heartbeat of Hollywood
Suggested by kamsismith
"Estelita: The Heartbeat of Hollywood" is a fascinating and motivating biopic that celebrates the extraordinary life of Estelita Rodriguez, a Cuban-American actress whose journey from poverty to stardom is a true testament to the American Dream. Despite facing many challenges and difficulties while growing up in Cuba, Estelita never gave up on her dreams and worked tirelessly towards achieving them. Her journey to Hollywood was a true inspiration, where she went on to become a shining star in the entertainment industry. Her remarkable talent, coupled with her unyielding determination, caught the attention of studio executives, who recognized her as a rare gem. This film beautifully captures Estelita's rise to stardom, where she defied all odds and broke barriers for Latina actresses. She was known for her exceptional beauty, talent, and charisma, and her performances in iconic films such as "Rio Bravo" with John Wayne and "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando made her a household name. Her story is truly remarkable and serves as a wonderful reminder that, with hard work and determination, anything is possible.
