John Singleton

John Singleton
Singleton in 2000
Born	John Daniel Singleton (1968-01-06)January 6, 1968 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	April 28, 2019(2019-04-28) (aged 51) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Occupations	Director screenwriter producer
Years active	1988–2019
Spouse	Akosua Busia ​ ​ (m. 1996; div. 1997)​
Children	7

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.^[1]

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.