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John Singleton
John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 – April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest nominee in the category.
Singleton went on to write and direct other films, such as the romantic drama Poetic Justice (1993), the socially conscious college-based drama Higher Learning (1995), the historical drama Rosewood (1997), the crime film Shaft (2000), the coming-of-age drama Baby Boy (2001) and the action films 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005). In television, he co-created the television crime drama Snowfall and directed episodes of shows such as Empire, Rebel and the fifth episode of The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for the latter.
One of the most successful and groundbreaking directors in African-American cinema, Singleton and his films represented the African-American urban experience, focusing on themes such as black masculinity, trauma, racism and identity. Singleton frequently cast rappers and musicians, such as Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and André 3000 in prominent roles.
John Singleton was born on January 6, 1968, in Los Angeles, the son of Shelia Ward-Johnson (later Morgan), a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner. In a 1993 DIRT magazine interview with Veronica Chambers, Singleton says of his childhood, "When I was growing up, comic books, video games and movies were my buffer against all the drugs, the partying and shit [...] I never grew up with a whole lot of white people. I grew up in a black neighborhood." He attended Eisenhower High School, Blair High School, Pasadena City College and the USC School of Cinema-Television.
Singleton was a spring 1987 initiate into the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and graduated from USC in 1990. Singleton considered pursuing computer science, but enrolled in USC's Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring. The program was designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writer/directors.
In 1991, Singleton made his feature film debut with Boyz n the Hood, a coming-of-age crime drama about three childhood friends growing up in the crime-ridden neighborhood of South Central LA. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett, Regina King, and Laurence Fishburne, the film was both a critical and commercial success. It debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. For his efforts, Singleton received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. At age 24, he became the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African-American to be nominated for the award. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In 1992, following the success of Boyz n the Hood, Singleton went on to direct VFX-driven "Remember the Time" music video for Michael Jackson, which featured Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson. The song and the music video were well-received and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles as well as the Mainstream Top 40 chart. It is certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, the song was a Top 10 hit in nine countries, peaking at No.1 in New Zealand, at No.2 in Spain and No.3 in the United Kingdom.
In 1993, Singleton wrote and directed his second film, Poetic Justice, a romantic drama about a young African-American woman named Justice (played by Janet Jackson, in her film debut) who writes poetry to deal with the loss of her boyfriend to gun violence but soon encounters a postal worker (played by Tupac Shakur), who helps her overcome depression. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but earned Jackson Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Song for "Again", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
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John Singleton
John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 – April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest nominee in the category.
Singleton went on to write and direct other films, such as the romantic drama Poetic Justice (1993), the socially conscious college-based drama Higher Learning (1995), the historical drama Rosewood (1997), the crime film Shaft (2000), the coming-of-age drama Baby Boy (2001) and the action films 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005). In television, he co-created the television crime drama Snowfall and directed episodes of shows such as Empire, Rebel and the fifth episode of The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for the latter.
One of the most successful and groundbreaking directors in African-American cinema, Singleton and his films represented the African-American urban experience, focusing on themes such as black masculinity, trauma, racism and identity. Singleton frequently cast rappers and musicians, such as Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and André 3000 in prominent roles.
John Singleton was born on January 6, 1968, in Los Angeles, the son of Shelia Ward-Johnson (later Morgan), a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner. In a 1993 DIRT magazine interview with Veronica Chambers, Singleton says of his childhood, "When I was growing up, comic books, video games and movies were my buffer against all the drugs, the partying and shit [...] I never grew up with a whole lot of white people. I grew up in a black neighborhood." He attended Eisenhower High School, Blair High School, Pasadena City College and the USC School of Cinema-Television.
Singleton was a spring 1987 initiate into the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and graduated from USC in 1990. Singleton considered pursuing computer science, but enrolled in USC's Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring. The program was designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writer/directors.
In 1991, Singleton made his feature film debut with Boyz n the Hood, a coming-of-age crime drama about three childhood friends growing up in the crime-ridden neighborhood of South Central LA. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett, Regina King, and Laurence Fishburne, the film was both a critical and commercial success. It debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. For his efforts, Singleton received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. At age 24, he became the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African-American to be nominated for the award. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In 1992, following the success of Boyz n the Hood, Singleton went on to direct VFX-driven "Remember the Time" music video for Michael Jackson, which featured Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson. The song and the music video were well-received and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles as well as the Mainstream Top 40 chart. It is certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, the song was a Top 10 hit in nine countries, peaking at No.1 in New Zealand, at No.2 in Spain and No.3 in the United Kingdom.
In 1993, Singleton wrote and directed his second film, Poetic Justice, a romantic drama about a young African-American woman named Justice (played by Janet Jackson, in her film debut) who writes poetry to deal with the loss of her boyfriend to gun violence but soon encounters a postal worker (played by Tupac Shakur), who helps her overcome depression. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but earned Jackson Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Song for "Again", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.