Ava DuVernay Biography

Before Ava DuVernay gained international recognition as the director of the 2014 movie Selma, she spent nearly fifteen years as a film marketer and publicist.

DuVernay grew up in the Los Angeles area and graduated from UCLA in 1995 with a degree in African-American Studies and English. After working for a few years in the film marketing business, DuVernay opened her own firm in 1999.

After a few years and several high profile clients, she began writing her own movie — what became her second feature, 2012’s Middle of Nowhere (her first feature was 2011’s ultra-low-budget I Will Follow).

Middle of Nowhere earned DuVernay a best director award at the Sundance Film Festival (it co-starred David Oyelowo, who would later play Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma).

Her documentary 13th (2016) earned an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature.

DuVernay’s other directing credits include the 2009 documentary This is the Life, an ESPN documentary on Venus Williams (Venus Vs.), the television series Queen Sugar (2016-21), the mini-series When They See Us (2019), the series Cherish the Day (2020) and the documentary series Colin in Black & White (2021, on football player Colin Kaepernick).