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Director, screenwriter and film maker Ava DuVernay became the first African American woman to win the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. She was also the first African American female director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Selma.
With a passion for sharing true-life stories about African-Americans and their journeys, DuVernay and worked tirelessly to produce documentaries and feature films that get people talking.
Early Life
DuVernay grew up with strong women who had a passion for art and creativity. According to Women’s History, when the director first saw the film West Side Story, along with the choice she saw her aunt and mother make throughout her childhood, she learned that art could be a vehicle for activism.
She attended the University of California, earning degrees in English and African American studies. While still in college, DuVernay pursued interests in production in the journalism spectrum, even serving as an intern for CBS News during the O.J. Simpson trial.
Changing Paths
During her intern years, DuVernay has shared her assignment to watch a jury member’s home and sort through their trash, putting a bad taste in her mouth for the media industry. Instead, she decided to launch her own public relations company, The DuVernay Agency in 1999.
Within her personal agency, she launched networks like the Urban Beauty Collective, Urban Thought Collective and HelloBeautiful. As a working publisher, DuVernay found herself on the set of movies, watching directors like Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood and Michael Mann.
Let’s Go to the Movies
She didn’t pick up a camera until she was 32 years old but it turns out, it was the best thing she could have done.
In 2006, DuVernay created her first short film, Saturday Night Life based on her mother’s life. Her first documentary was Compton in C Minor and she followed that up with another documentary, This Is the Life about hip hop culture.
In 2012, she released Middle of Nowhere, a film detailing the life of a young woman whose husband is incarcerated. It was the film that earned her Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival and her direction became very clear.
DuVernay Found Her Calling
Just a decade ago, the director created films Selma and 13th, earning rave reviews and multiple awards, finally making DuVernay a household name.
As a child, she heard her father talking about the Civil Rights Movement, something she’d never forget and prompted her historical drama, Selma. It follows the 1965 civil rights march led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the path to the Voting Rights Act. Selma earned DuVernay a Golden Globe nomination for best director and an Academy Award nomination for best picture.
13th, another documentary available on Netflix, brought another Oscar nomination for the exploration of the American prison system and its racial inequalities. DuVernay has been vocal about mass incarceration of black Americans. She’s also discussed distinguishing the difference between how those in poverty are treated versus those that have financial means.
Making Friends in High Places
In 2018, DuVernay directed the adventure fantasy A Wrinkle in Time based on the novel by Madeleine L’Engle and featuring stars, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling.
Her friendships and working relationships led to several television projects through OWN Network and others. DuVernay created the miniseries for Netflix, When They See Us, based on the true 1989 event of five black teenagers, wrongfully convicted for a violent crime in New York’s Central Park.
According to Britannica, she’s behind the television series Queen Sugar and Naomi, two shows regarding African American lives.
Getting Candid
Even though she’s known across the world and has lunch with billionaire’s, fans questions why DuVernay has never been married and never had children. With a modern outlook on life, DuVernay told TODAY she couldn’t mature in her work without opening up and meeting new people, however, it was a conscious choice not to marry or have a family.
Known as a workaholic from a very young age, DuVernay didn’t hit her stride until her mid-thirties, prompting her to choose her love for her career over a more traditional family life.
Most Recent Project
One Perfect Shot premiered on HBO Max March 24. The unscripted series is based on a popular Twitter account of the same name and focuses on single images from movies. Included in the series is Aaron Sorkin, Patty Jenkins and Michael Mann among others.
Sources: Women's History, Britannica, TODAY
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