Top Black Filmmakers (Directors & Producers)
by VAFilmBoy | created - 23 Jun 2019 | updated - 23 Jun 2019 | PublicThis is a list of top black filmmakers in no particular order.
1. Shonda Rhimes
Producer | Grey's Anatomy
Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an African-American producer, author and screenwriter. She is known for working on the Britney Spears and Zoe Saldana film Crossroads, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, the Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and the Halle ...
2. Broderick Johnson
Producer | Blade Runner 2049
Producer Broderick Johnson is co-CEO and co-founder of Alcon Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based wholly independent production company that develops, finances, produces and markets theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Warner Bros. Johnson produced alongside co-CEO Andrew Kosove Alcon's ...
It was the sleeper hit The Blind Side that capitulated Broderick Johnson into the spotlight. The film was backed with a $29 million production budget and grossed more than $300 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful sports dramas in film history. The film’s Oscar nomination for Best Picture made Johnson just the third African American producer to earn an Academy Award nod in this category.
3. Jordan Peele
Writer | Nope
Jordan Peele is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions. Peele's first feature film, "Get Out," was a critically acclaimed blockbuster, recognized with four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The film would earn Peele the ...
Get Out, Us
4. Debra Martin Chase
Producer | Courage Under Fire
Debra Martin Chase was born on October 11, 1956 in Great Lakes, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and executive, known for Courage Under Fire (1996), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and Harriet (2019).
Not long after her Oscar and Emmy nods for the documentary “Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream,” Debra Martin Chase became the first African American woman to have a solo deal at a major studio: Martin Chase Productions, which is affiliated with the Walt Disney Co.
5. Ryan Coogler
Director | Black Panther
Ryan Kyle Coogler is an African-American filmmaker and producer who is from Oakland, California. He is known for directing the Black Panther film series, Creed, a Rocky spin-off and Fruitvale Station. He frequently casts Michael B. Jordan in his works. He produced the Creed sequels, Judas and the ...
Black Panther, Fruitvale Station
6. Ava DuVernay
Writer | Queen Sugar
A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which ...
Central Park Five, 13th, Selma ( directed and co-wrote )
7. F. Gary Gray
Director | Set It Off
Felix Gary Gray is an African-American music video director, film producer and film director from New York City known for directing films such as Friday, Men in Black: International, Be Cool, The Fate of the Furious, Set It Off, The Negotiator, Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job. He ...
8. Spike Lee
Director | Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...
Do The Right Thing, Malcom X, School Daze
9. Tyler Perry
Writer | Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Perry was born and raised in New Orleans, to Willie Maxine (Campbell) and Emmitt Perry, Sr. His mother was a church-goer and took Perry along with her once a week. His father was a carpenter and they had a very strained and abusive relationship, which led Perry to suffer from depression as a ...
10. Ice Cube
Soundtrack | Friday
Ice Cube was born in South Central Los Angeles, to Doris (Benjamin), a custodian and hospital clerk, and Hosea Jackson, a UCLA groundskeeper. He first came to public notice as a singer and songwriter with the controversial and influential band N.W.A. His compositions with that group included many ...
11. James Lassiter
Producer | Seven Pounds
James Lassiter is known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Harder They Fall (2021) and Hitch (2005).
Over the past 14 years, James Lassiter and Will Smith have left their golden imprint on a diverse slate of critically acclaimed and blockbuster feature films. Their extraordinary hit list includes “I Am Legend,” “Hancock,” and “The Karate Kid” remake, which grossed more than $359.1 million worldwide.
12. John Singleton
Writer | Boyz n the Hood
Son of Danny Singleton, a mortgage broker, and Sheila Ward, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and raised in separate households by his unmarried parents, John Singleton attended the Film Writing Program at USC, after graduating from high school in 1986. While studying there, he won three ...
13. Sidney Poitier
Actor | In the Heat of the Night
Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal ...
Uptown Saturday Night, Stir Crazy
14. Allen Hughes
Director | The Book of Eli
Albert and Allen Hughes began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice. Their next work, Uncensored videos, was ...
Menace to Society, Dead presidents, Book of eli, Broken city, New york i love you, and more
15. Malcolm D. Lee
Director | Girls Trip
Malcolm D. Lee was born on January 11, 1970 in the USA. He is a writer and director, known for Girls Trip (2017), The Best Man (1999) and The Best Man: The Final Chapters (2022). He has been married to Camilla Banks since 2000. They have three children.
The best man, Best man Holiday, Soul men, scary movie 5, under cover brother, welcome home Rosco jenkins, Roll bounce
16. Keenen Ivory Wayans
Writer | White Chicks
The trail-blazing linchpin of a sprawling family dynasty of comic entertainers, it was multi-talented writer/director/producer Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958, in New York City) who led the familial pack and was the first to achieve national prominence when he successfully created, launched,...
Scarey Movie 1-4, Little man, White chicks, Low down dirty shame, most wanted and more
17. Marlon Wayans
Actor | White Chicks
Marlon Wayans is an American actor, writer and comedian. He is known for playing Tyrone C. Love in Requiem for a Dream, Shorty Meeks from Scary Movie, Marcus Anthony Copeland II from White Chicks and Thunder from Marmaduke. He played Drake Winston/Robin in deleted scenes of Batman Returns and ...
White Chicks, Scary Movie, A Haunted House
18. Albert Hughes
Director | The Book of Eli
Albert and Allen Hughes began making movies at age 12, but their formal film education began their freshman year of high school when Allen took a TV production class. They soon made a short film entitled How To Be A Burglar and people began to take notice. Their next work, Uncensored videos, was ...
Book of eli, Menace to society, Dead presidents and more
19. Mario Van Peebles
Actor | How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass
Mario Van Peebles is a highly regarded director, actor, producer and writer. His directorial skills can be seen in the retelling of the epic mini-series "Roots" starring Forest Whitaker and Matthew Goode. Van Peebles has directed award-winning shows such as the recent hit "Empire" and "The Last ...
New jack city, Posse, 21 jump street ( 1989 ), and more
20. Robert Townsend
Producer | Hollywood Shuffle
Robert Townsend transcends any medium he touches whether he's performing stand up, acting, writing, directing, producing, or running a television network. A Chicago native, Townsend is often referred to as one of the "Godfathers" of the Independent Film World." With over 30 years in the business, ...
Five heartbeats, In the Hive, Baps, and others
21. Lee Daniels
Producer | Precious
Lee Daniels gave his parents an early Christmas present when he entered the world on December 24, 1959; unfortunately, the Philadelphia native was to have a difficult relationship with his police officer father who later reacted violently to his son's sexuality. Despite the brutality of his ...
The Butler, Empire, Precious
22. Forest Whitaker
Actor | The Last King of Scotland
Forest Steven Whitaker has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6' 2", 220 lb. frame. He won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the film The Last King of Scotland (2006), and has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. He is the fourth African-American male to...
23. Denzel Washington
Actor | Fences
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...
24. Will Packer
Producer | Girls Trip
Producer Will Packer has established himself as one of Hollywood's blockbuster hit makers and is one of the only African American producers in the world that has had eight of their films open number one at the box office. Collectively, his films have grossed nearly $1 billion.
Packer's number one ...
25. Reuben Cannon
Casting_director | The Color Purple
Reuben Cannon was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1946. He attended Southeast City College. Cannon worked at Universal Studios from 1970 to 1978, eventually becoming a casting director. He also was the head of television casting for Warner Brothers from 1977 to 1978. Cannon started his own casting ...
Producer Reuben Cannon has earned a reputation for being an innovative and trendsetting force in Hollywood over the past three decades. He is credited with launching the movie careers of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, whom he cast in “The Color Purple.”
26. Martin Lawrence
Actor | Martin
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an African-American comedian, producer, writer, director and actor. He is known for his roles in the Bad Boys trilogy, Martin, Def Comedy Jam, Big Momma's House, Open Season, House Party, Boomerang, Wild Hogs, What's Happening Now!!, Nothing to Lose, Life and Blue ...
27. Eddie Murphy
Actor | The Nutty Professor
Edward Regan Murphy was born April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, to Lillian Lynch (born: Lillian Laney), a telephone operator, and Charles Edward Murphy, a transit police officer who was also an amateur comedian and actor. After his father died, his mother married Vernon Lynch, a foreman at a ...
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