Early life

DuVernay was born in Long Beach, California, to Darlene Maye, an educator, and Murray Maye, a businessman, from Hayneville, Alabama, a small town between Montgomery and Selma. DuVernay is the oldest of the five children. DuVernay grew up in Lynwood, California and Compton, California. DuVernay spent summers in Hayneville, Alabama. DuVernay said that these summers in Alabama influenced the making of Selma, as her father saw the Selma to Montgomery marches as a small child.

DuVernay attended Saint Joseph High School, where she graduated in 1990. She graduated with a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1995, where she double-majored in English and African-American studies.

Career

While in college DuVernay became interested in broadcast journalism. While an intern for CBS News, she was assigned to help cover the O.J. Simpson murder trial. She became disillusioned with journalism, and decided to switch to publicity.

Public relations

After graduation, she worked as a publicist. DuVernay worked at FOX, Savoy Pictures and other public relations firms for four years before forming her own agency, The DuVernay Agency, later known as DVA Media + Marketing, in 1999. The award-winning marketing and publicity firm has provided strategy and execution for more than 100 film and television projects by directors such as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Bill Condon, Raoul Peck and Gurinder Chadha.

Filmmaking

In 2008, DuVernay made her feature directorial debut with the documentary This Is the Life, a history of LA's Good Life Cafe's arts movement. DuVernay began with documentaries because they can be done on a smaller budget than a feature film, and she could learn the trade while doing so.

In 2011, DuVernay's first narrative feature film, I Will Follow, a drama starring Salli Richardson-Whitfield, was released theatrically. DuVernay's aunt Denise Sexton was the inspiration for the film. DuVernay made the film in 15 days with her own money: DuVernay "kept costs under $50,000 by staying in one location." Roger Ebert called it "one of the best films I've seen about coming to terms with the death of a loved one." I Will Follow was an official selection of AFI Fest, Pan-African Film Festival, Urbanworld and Chicago International Film Festival.

In the summer of 2011, DuVernay began production on her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere. The film was acquired by AFFRM and Participant Media at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it played in U.S. Dramatic Competition and garnered the Best Director Award for DuVernay, the first African-American woman to ever win the prize. DuVernay also won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for her work on the film.

ESPN commissioned DuVernay to produce and direct Venus Vs., a documentary on Venus Williams' fight for equal prize money for their film series Nine for IX, which aired on July 2, 2013.

Selma

DuVernay directed Selma, a $20 million budget film produced by Plan B Entertainment, about Martin Luther King, Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson, and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. The movie was released on December 25, 2014.

There was significant controversy about Selma and its depiction of Lyndon Johnson's actions as portrayed in the film. Former Johnson domestic policy aide Joseph A. Califano, Jr. criticized DuVernay for ignoring and falsifying history, and particularly for suggesting that Johnson reluctantly supported King's efforts and that he sent the FBI to investigate King. For the film she did uncredited re-writes of most of the original screenwriter Paul Webb's script with an increased emphasis on King and the people of Selma as central figures. In response to the criticisms of historians and media sources that accused her of irresponsibly rewriting history to portray her own agenda, DuVernay pointed out that the film is "not a documentary. I'm not a historian. I'm a storyteller".

The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Song, but not Best Director, by the Academy Awards. While the lack of diversity of the Oscar nominations for 2014 was the subject of much press, especially on Twitter, the film of the only person of color that was nominated for the 87th Academy Awards, Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, ended up taking top honors in three categories at the ceremony - Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The award for Best Original Song went to "Glory" from Selma. DuVernay stated that she had not expected to be nominated so the omission didn't really bother her; rather she was hurt by actor David Oyelowo not being nominated. As to the question of racial diversity of awards, she stated that the obstacles to people of color being represented in the Academy Awards were systemic.

Television

DuVernay directed episode 3.08 of Scandal which was called "Vermont is For Lovers, Too".

In 2015 DuVernay executive produced and directed the CBS civil rights crime drama pilot For Justice starring Anika Noni Rose. It was not picked up for distribution.

That same year DuVernay announced she would be creating and executive producing the upcoming drama series, Queen Sugar, alongside Oprah Winfrey. The drama was set to air on Oprah Winfrey Network. In 2016 DuVernay announced that actress Rutina Wesley had been cast in the lead role.

Future projects

In 2013, she announced development on a narrative feature film entitled Part of the Sky set in Compton.

In 2015, it was announced that DuVernay would be writing, producing, and directing her next project, a fictional account which will focus on the "social and environmental" aspects of Hurricane Katrina while including a love story and a murder mystery. David Oyelowo, from Selma, will be part of the project.

In 2010, it was announced that Disney retained film rights to remake the novel A Wrinkle in Time. Following the success of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Disney announced hiring Jeff Stockwell to write the screenplay for Cary Granat and his new Bedrock Studios. Cary Granat had previously worked with Disney on the Chronicles of Narnia and Bridge to Terabithia films. The project's budget is $35 million, which the company compares to District 9 and Bridge to Terabithia, both of which had less than $30 million. On August 5, 2014, Jennifer Lee was announced as the screenwriter taking over from Stockwell, who wrote the first draft. On February 8, 2016, it was reported that Ava DuVernay was offered to direct the film, she was confirmed to direct later that same month.

Other work

• In 2010, DuVernay directed several network music documentaries, including My Mic Sounds Nice for BET Networks and the Essence Music Festival 2010 for TV One.
• In 2013, DuVernay partnered with Miu Miu as part of their Women's Tales film series. Her short film The Door starred actress Gabrielle Union and reunited DuVernay with her Middle of Nowhere star Emayatzy Corinealdi. The film was later presented at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.
• In August 2013, DuVernay released a second short film through Vimeo entitled Say Yes. The film was sponsored by cosmetic brand Fashion Fair and starred Kali Hawk and Lance Gross. Julie Dash, Victoria Mahoney, Lorraine Toussaint and Issa Rae appeared as extras in the film.
• In September 2013, DuVernay started a podcast series called The Call-In, a series of phone conversations recorded by African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement ("AFFRM") of Black filmmakers of feature narrative and documentary work
• On March 14, 2015, DuVernay gave a keynote address at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival. In the speech, DuVernay shared that she was the seventh choice of people asked to direct Selma and described her experience at the 2015 Oscars, while being an honor to be able to attend, it was just "a room in L.A."

Film distribution

See also: ARRAY

In 2010 DuVernay began AFFRM (the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement) her own company to distribute films made by or focusing on black people.

In 2015 the company rebranded itself under the name ARRAY, promising a new focus on women filmmakers as well.

Artistry and influences

DuVernay has cited Haile Gerima, Julie Dash and Charles Burnett as her influences as a filmmaker. DuVernay notes that while women directors are rare, black women filmmakers are rarer still - "a small sorority". DuVernay influenced Manohla Dargis to suggest in 2016 "what might be called the DuVernay test, in which African-Americans and other minorities have fully realized lives rather than serve as scenery in white stories."

Personal life

DuVernay resides in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
TBD	Queen Sugar	Creator, executive producer, writer and director
TBD	A Wrinkle in Time	Director
2014	Selma	Director/Co-writer	African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Black Film Critics Award for Best Director Black Reel Award for Best Director Nominated-Independent Spirit Award for Best Director Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Director Nominated-Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Director Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated-Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director Nominated-NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Director Nominated-Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director for Best Director Nominated-Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
2013	Scandal	Director	Episode: "Vermont is For Lovers, Too"
2013	Say Yes for Fashion Fair	Director/Writer	Branded Short
2013	Venus Vs.	Director/Writer	Television Documentary
2013	The Door for Prada	Director/Writer	Branded Short
2012	Middle of Nowhere	Director/Writer	U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic (2012 Sundance Film Festival)
2011	I Will Follow	Director/Writer	Narrative Feature Film
2010	My Mic Sounds Nice	Director/Executive Producer	Television Documentary
2010	Essence Music Festival '10	Director/Writer	Television Documentary
2010	Faith Through the Storm	Director/Writer	Television Documentary
2008	This Is the Life	Director/Producer	Feature Documentary
2007	Compton in C Minor	Director/Producer	Short Documentary
2006	Saturday Night Life	Director/Writer	Narrative Short

Awards, nominations, honors

• In June 2013, she was invited to both the director's and writer's branches of AMPAS. DuVernay was only the second black woman, following Kasi Lemmons, to be invited to the director's branch.
• Duvernay became the inaugural recipient of the Tribeca Film Institute's Heineken Affinity Award, receiving a $20,000 prize and industry support for future projects. DuVernay donated all the money to the black arthouse film collective she founded known as AFFRM.
• In June 2015, Duvernay will be honored as part of Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards with the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award.
• In April 2015 DuVernay was chosen as one of Mattel's "Sheros" of 2015. As such a custom-made one-of-a-kind Barbie in DuVernay's likeness was produced. The doll was auctioned off with the proceeds given to charity. Due to high demand, a collectible version of the doll was produced and sold in December of that year.

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2011	African-American Film Critics	Best Screenplay	I Will Follow	Won
2012	Black Reel Awards	Best Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Independent Motion Picture		Nominated
	Sundance Film Festival	Directing Award	Middle of Nowhere	Won
		Grand Jury Prize		Nominated
	Film Independent Spirit Awards	Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award		Won
	Humanitas Prize	Sundance Film		Nominated
	African-American Film Critics	Best Independent Film		Won
		Best Screenplay		Won
		Best Picture		Nominated
	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Woman Screenwriter		Nominated
	Women Film Critics Circle	Josephine Baker Award		Won
2013	Black Reel Awards	Best Director		Won
		Best Screenplay		Won
		Best Film		Nominated
	Gotham Awards	Best Feature		Nominated
2014	Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Director	Selma	Nominated
	Black Film Critics Circle	Best Director		Won
	Central Ohio Film Critics Association	Best Director		Won
		Breakthrough Film Artist		Won
	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award	Best Director		Nominated
	Georgia Film Critics Association	Best Director		Nominated
		Breakthrough Award		Nominated
	Golden Globe Award	Best Director		Nominated
	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Director		Nominated
		Best Woman Director		Won
		Female Icon of the Year		Won
	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	Film Independent Spirit Awards	Best Director		Nominated
2016	GRAMMY Awards	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media	Selma	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]