Personal Info
Known For:
Directing
Birthday:
August 24, 1972
Place of Birth:
Long Beach, California, USA
Social Media
Ava DuVernay
Biography
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.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Becoming King | Self |
| 2022 | Only in Theaters | Self |
| 2021 | Adele One Night Only | Self |
| 2021 | Regard Noir | Self |
| 2021 | A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks | Self |
| 2020 | Aggie | Self |
| 2019 | Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now | Self |
| 2018 | Half the Picture | Self |
| 2018 | Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché | Self |
| 2017 | The Female Lead - A Selection of Portraits | Self |
| 2017 | 13th: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey & Ava DuVernay | Herself |
| 2017 | Girls Trip | Ava DuVernay |
| 2014 | Life Itself | Self - Filmmaker |
| 2008 | This Is the Life | Self |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television | Self |
| 2023 | Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter | Self |
| 2022 | One Perfect Shot | Self - Director |
| 2021 | Directors on Directors | Self |
| 2020 | Dear... | Self |
| 2020 | #blackAF | Ava DuVernay |
| 2019 | Tamron Hall | Self - Guest |
| 2019 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | Ava DuVernay |
| 2019 | Desus & Mero | Self - Illustrious Guest |
| 2019 | The Kelly Clarkson Show | Self |
| 2018 | Shine On with Reese | Self |
| 2016 | Chelsea | Self |
| 2015 | Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter | Self |
| 2015 | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Self |
| 2014 | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | Self - Guest |
| 2014 | Trailblazer Honors | Self - Honoree |
| 2012 | Finding Your Roots | Self |
| 1997 | The View | Self - Guest |
| 1996 | The Daily Show | Self |
| 1979 | CBS News Sunday Morning | Self |