Being a successful director is a daunting task, especially with how big Hollywood has become. If you thought that was difficult, consider being a black director. It is way more difficult to climb up the rungs of the success ladder as a black filmmaker in Hollywood.
These directors on this list have put in a lot of effort to ensure that they put together black history and present challenges faced by the community into movies. They also give a voice to the most disadvantaged members of society and create an avenue for them to put their innate abilities to good use.
In this article, we bring you a list of the most influential black filmmakers in Hollywood.
Ryan Coogler
Coogler was advised by a professor if creative writing to consider screenwriting. He took this advice and never looked back, we glad he never. He is the mind behind some of the biggest movies to hit the silver screen in recent times. Some major box-office hits by his hands include Black Panther, Fruitcake Station, and Creed. We are sure his best is yet to come.
Spike Lee
He had one dream as a child, become a renowned filmmaker. His story has proven to us that dreams do come true as he is one of the biggest names in the industry as yet. He had under his belt several top movies like Do the right throng, BlacKKKlansman, and Malcolm X. His works bring together the whole of the black experience.
Jordan Peele
Prior to being a renowned filmmaker, Peele used to be a comedian working with Comedy Central. He co-created Key and Peele Sketch comedy show which used to air on Comedy Central. His Oscar-winning movie, Get out was released two years after his Comedy Central show ended. This movie shot him into the limelight and he has promised to keep up the good work as he releases his next movie in 2019.
Tyler Perry
Perry is not just a director, he is multitalented. He’s a writer, actor, producer, director, and playwright. Perry is an icon in the industry and it is interesting that all of these started from watching Oprah’s show. As he watched the show on that fateful day, he was inspired to put down his life experiences to give him the breakthrough he so much sought after.
Ava Duvernay
This list will be incomplete without this phenomenal woman being mentioned. She’s had a lot of firsts in her career. She is the first African-American woman to be nominated for best director at the Golden Globes. She is also the first African-American woman with a movie nominated at the Oscars for best picture. Finally, she won the best director at Sundance as the first African-American woman to achieve such a feat. Some of her movies include A wrinkle in time, 13th, and Selma, they have all been hits and we are definitely expecting more from now on.
