Life and career

Hudlin was born in Centreville, Illinois, the son of Helen (née Cason), a teacher, and Warrington W. Hudlin, Sr., an insurance executive and teacher. His older brother, Warrington Hudlin, is also a film director, as well as an actor and producer.

While an undergraduate student at Harvard University, Hudlin directed a short film entitled, "House Party," which went on to receive numerous awards including first place at the Black American Cinema Society Awards. It would serve as the basis for his first feature film of the same name.

For two years he has been the executive producer of the NAACP Image Awards. The show got its highest rating on NBC in 2013, then became the highest rated show in the history of TV One in 2014.

He directed House Party, Boomerang, The Great White Hype, The Ladies Man, Serving Sara (2002), two episodes of the TV series Modern Family, an episode of The Office, an episode of The Middle and several episodes of Outsourced. He was a reoccurring producer and director of the The Bernie Mac Show for three years.

From 2005 to 2008, Hudlin was the President of Entertainment for BET. He was the writer of the Marvel Comics series Black Panther from 2005 to 2008, most notable for the 2006 storyline "Bride of the Panther," which saw the characters Storm and the Black Panther wed.

He was one of the producers of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson. On January 10, 2013, Hudlin received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture for the film.

Hudlin is a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Popular culture

Hudlin was lampooned on two unaired episodes of the animated television show The Boondocks: "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show." "Wedgie Rudlin" was depicted as a "culturally insensitive buffoon coasting on his Ivy League education." Ironically, Hudlin retains an executive producer credit on The Boondocks (series 1 & 2), though this is only a contractual obligation.

Filmography

As director

• House Party (1990)
• Boomerang (1992)
• The Great White Hype (1996)
• The Ladies Man (2000)
• Serving Sara (2002)
• Marshall (2016)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]