John Daniel Singleton is an American film director, screenwriter, and
producer best known for directing Boyz n the Hood in 1991. For the film, he was
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming the first African
American and youngest person to have ever been nominated for the award.
Singleton is a native of South Los Angeles and many of his early films,
such as Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, and Baby Boy, consider the implications
of inner-city violence. Some of his other films include dramas such as
Rosewood in addition to action films such as Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and
Four Brothers. Early life
Singleton was born in Los Angeles, the son of Sheila Ward-Johnson, a
pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate
agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner. He attended Bassett High
School, Pasadena City College and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He
graduated from USC in 1990, and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Singleton was enrolled in the University of Southern California's Filmic Writing
program under Margaret Mehring and her now-famous curriculum. The program was
designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient
writer/directors. Unlike the other standard USC programs
for screenwriting, film production, or the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing
and critical studies programs, Mehring designed her FILMIC writing program to
teach a select group of students how to be authors of their visions. Other
students included Helen Childress, Stephen Chbosky, and Ms. Childress’
husband Carlos Brooks. Singleton was always present in the Apple computer
writing lab, working on his screenplays during late nights and early mornings.
However, his ability to direct was correlated to an early beginning in
music videos, which culminated in the EFX driven Michael Jackson “Remember the
Time” MTV video. Career
Singleton's 1991 film debut Boyz n the Hood, an inner city drama starring Cuba
Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, and Laurence Fishburne, was both a significant
critical and commercial success. For his efforts, Singleton received Academy
Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. At age 24
he was the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director, and the
first African-American to be nominated for the award. The film has since
attained classic status and, in 2002, the United States Library of Congress
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film Registry. Singleton's follow-up films Poetic
Justice and Higher Learning were similarly socially conscious and
received mixed to positive reviews. Singleton also directed the video for
Michael Jackson's 1991 single "Remember The Time", starring actor Eddie Murphy.
In 1997, his film Rosewood, a historical drama about racial violence, was entered
into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. Both this and his 2001 film
Baby Boy received very positive reviews and helped establish Singleton's
critical reputation. Additionally, his adaptation of Shaft, starring Samuel L.
Jackson in the title role, was successful critically and commercially.
Singleton has since turned to directing action films, such as 2 Fast 2 Furious
and Four Brothers, which have for the most part received mixed to negative
reviews. In 2005, Singleton teamed with Craig
Brewer and financed the independent film, Hustle and Flow, once it was clear
that most other major backers would not clear it for release.
In 2013, it was announced that Singleton was attached as director of the Tupac
biography film. On April 3, 2015, Singleton reported that production was
put on hold. Four days later, it was announced that following creative
differences with Morgan Creek Productions, Singleton had stepped down
as director, and was replaced by Carl Franklin.
Personal life He has six children in total. John has a
daughter named Justice Maya Singleton with ex-companion Tosha Lewis, as well
as a son, Maasai Mohandas Singleton. On October 12, 1996, John married
Ghanaian actress Akosua Gyamama Busia, who is the daughter of Ghana's second
Prime Minister Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia. They have a daughter named Hadar
Singleton. born on April 3, 1997, who has appeared in Tears of the Sun and
other productions, and were divorced in June 1997. John also has a daughter,
Cleopatra Singleton, who was born in 1999.
= Accident= On August 23, 2007, Singleton was
involved in an automobile accident in which he struck a jaywalking pedestrian,
Constance Russell, 57, of Los Angeles. Staying on the scene until police
arrived, Singleton was not under the influence of alcohol or other
substances, and was released after being questioned. Russell died later in the
hospital. The case was turned over to the District Attorney but no charges
were filed. = Criticism of Hollywood=
On March 19, 2014, Singleton criticized popular studios for "refusing to let
African-Americans direct black-themed films". Singleton told an audience of
students at Loyola Marymount University "They ain't letting the black people
tell the stories." He also added, "They want black people [to be] what they want
them to be. And nobody is man enough to go and say that. They want black people
to be who they want them to be, as opposed to what they are. The black
films now — so-called black films now — they're great. They're great films. But
they're just product. They're not moving the bar forward creatively. … When you
try to make it homogenized, when you try to make it appeal to everybody, then you
don't have anything that's special." Filmography
= Director= Boyz n the Hood
Poetic Justice Higher Learning
Rosewood Shaft
Baby Boy 2 Fast 2 Furious
Four Brothers Abduction
Empire = Producer=
Higher Learning Shaft
Baby Boy Hustle & Flow
Black Snake Moan Illegal Tender
= Screenwriter= Boyz n the Hood
Poetic Justice Higher Learning
Shaft Baby Boy
= Actor= Baadasssss! ... Detroit J
The Game ... John Singleton Collaborations
Singleton has cast certain actors in more than one of his films:
Further reading Barboza, Craigh. John Singleton:
Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-116-3. Retrieved 24
April 2011. References
External links The Films of John Singleton
John Singleton at the Internet Movie Database
Singleton Dated Tyra Banks