Rick Famuyiwa

Famuyiwa directed Confirmation (2016), an HBO original movie. The film starred Kerry Washington as Anita Hill, and depicted the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination, as Hill testified that Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her.

In June 2016, Famuyiwa was announced as the director for The Flash after Seth Grahame-Smith dropped from the project.

In October 2016, Famuyiwa left the project. He had been on board since June developing the project, even overseeing the castings of Kiersey Clemons and Billy Crudup in key roles. Famuyiwa gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on the matter:

Dope (2015), both written and directed by Famuyiwa, is a coming-of-age film that premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Best Editing award for the work of editor Lee Haugen. It stars Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, and A$AP Rocky.

Our Family Wedding starring Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, and Lance Gross. Famuyiwa first became attached to the project two years prior, in 2008, when the presidential campaign was in full swing. With Barack Obama possibly becoming the first African American president, Famuyiwa was interested in making a film that would be reflective of the exciting, changing times. Recounting on the film, Famuyiwa expresses, "At the time the entire debate seemed to be around Hispanics voting for an African-American president. We've all seen these projections of how society is going to look in 50 years. We're all going to have to deal with each other culturally. It felt like a great opportunity to tell that story without being preachy."

In 2008, while working on Our Family Wedding, Famuyiwa was recognized for his work on Kasi Lemmons' Talk To Me by the NAACP Image Awards. The Association nominated Talk To Me for Outstanding Motion Picture and Famuyiwa won for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television).

Talk to Me was released on August 3, 2007. The independent film grossed $400,000 in its opening weekend and nationwide, the film made close to $5 million.

In 2003, Famuyiwa served on a panel of directors for a discussion conducted by the Directors Guild of America African American Steering Committee. In the panel, other African American directors Kasi Lemmons and Gary Hardwick joined Famuyiwa as they discussed the challenges and opportunities faced by African American directors in the cinema industry. Reflecting on his own experiences of securing funding and support for his films, Famuyiwa believes that there are still many stereotypes and barriers to break down in the industry in order for African Americans to be accredited the respect they deserve.

In 2003, after completing work on Brown Sugar Famuyiwa was once again nominated by the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Motion Picture.

Brown Sugar was released on October 11, 2002. The film was marketed extensively by distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures and made $10 million in its opening weekend, ultimately grossing close to $28 million nationwide.

In 2000, The Black Reel Awards nominated Famuyiwa for Best Director (Theatrical) for his work on The Wood. Later on that year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards nominated The Wood for Outstanding Motion Picture.

In 1999, Famuyiwa married Glenita Mosley whom he met at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The film was produced by MTV Films and was released on July 16, 1999. Speaking of his partnership with MTV for The Wood, Famuyiwa states, "[MTV Films] had the best concept and could deal with it better because it was young, [it had] the music and they wanted to make a film with predominantly African-American characters." The Wood was produced for an estimated cost of $6 million and went on to gross over $25 million at the box office in the United States alone.

After high school, Famuyiwa attended the University of Southern California (USC) and double-majored in cinematic arts film & television production and cinematic arts critical studies. During his time at the university, Famuyiwa worked intimately with film professor Todd Boyd, who would later help write and produce his first feature film. In 1996, prior to graduation, Famuyiwa created a 12-minute short film entitled Blacktop Lingo that garnered critical positive feedback and led to his invitation to the Sundance Filmmaker's Institute. In 1997, during his time at the Sundance Director's Lab, Famuyiwa put the finishing touches on The Wood, his first feature film.

Rick Famuyiwa (born June 18, 1973) is a Nigerian-American director, producer and screenwriter of productions including The Wood (1999), Brown Sugar (2002), Talk to Me (2007), and Dope (2015).

In the film, influential 1960s African American radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene and his contributions to American popular culture and the Civil Rights Movement are chronicled. The film explores the construction of race and race relations during this volatile period of American history.