---
name: "Ava DuVernay"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ava-duvernay"
fi1m_id: "ava-duvernay"
imdb_id: "nm1148550"
tmdb_id: 929825
wikidata_id: "Q4827381"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "24 August 1972"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-24T04:13:19.643661+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ava DuVernay

## Identity

Ava DuVernay

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ava-duvernay
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ava-duvernay
- **IMDb ID:** nm1148550
- **TMDB ID:** 929825
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4827381
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_DuVernay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4827381, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1148550/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/929825

Director and producer. Born 24 August 1972 in Long Beach, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 24 August 1972, Long Beach, California, USA
- **Active:** 2014–present
- **Also known as:** Ava Marie DuVernay, AvA, Eve
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 producing
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 84 (3), 2020s 78 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 84 to 85 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 2, Documentary 1, History 1
- **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $67m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_DuVernay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4827381, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1148550/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/929825

## Coming up

- *14th* (2026-11-27), Director — [page](https://film.one/film/14th.md)

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*When They See Us*](https://film.one/tv/when-they-see-us.md) (84), [*13th*](https://film.one/film/13th.md) (84), [*Selma*](https://film.one/film/selma.md) (84), [*The White Tiger*](https://film.one/film/the-white-tiger.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Ava DuVernay

> Ava DuVernay is at her best when she lets people disagree and gives everyone time to be heard. *Selma* makes that patience gripping, though her writing sometimes supplies a prepared speech where a conversation would do.

When David Oyelowo speaks in *Selma* (2014), DuVernay keeps us attentive to the people listening. Their doubts and demands complicate King’s authority, and she gives them time to register. We were moved by his quiet exchanges with Carmen Ejogo’s Coretta Scott King, because her reserve makes his confidence seem harder to sustain. DuVernay lets Ejogo keep her own judgement, rather than making her a source of reassurance about the man at the centre.

*Middle of Nowhere* (2012) had already made Black family life central to her work before *Selma* brought her wider attention. That concern with families continued in the television ensemble of *Queen Sugar* (2016–2022). Her subsequent work moved between forms, from the documentary *13th* (2016) to the studio film *A Wrinkle in Time* (2018). With *Origin* (2023), adapting Isabel Wilkerson’s *Caste* through personal and historical stories, she again put individual lives alongside a much larger subject.

Her work with cinematographer Bradford Young gives that attention to people a practical expression. His rich, naturalistic lighting keeps varied dark skin tones visible in low light, without making the illumination feel conspicuous. In *Selma*, DuVernay shows a similar care in handling the actors, keeping Oyelowo’s public confidence from settling what everyone else feels. She lets discussions develop at their own pace, so that familiar history still contains decisions whose difficulty we can understand.

Some exchanges in Paul Webb and DuVernay’s screenplay sound prepared for delivery rather than worked out between people. Tom Wilkinson’s Lyndon B. Johnson is too conveniently obstructive, while Tim Roth’s George Wallace has little room to become more than an opponent. The writing gives these men less to do than the activists, whose disagreements are more complicated and more rewarding. That weakens a film otherwise so good at showing how difficult persuasion can be. Start with *Selma*, and watch Ejogo as closely as Oyelowo.

## Biography

Ava DuVernay is an American director and writer. Born on 24 August 1972 in Long Beach, California, she founded the independent distribution company ARRAY in 2011. Her feature directorial debut was *I Will Follow* (2010).

She directed and wrote *Selma* (2014), becoming the first African-American woman nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Her other credits include the documentary *13th* (2016), *A Wrinkle in Time* (2018) and the limited series *When They See Us* (2019). She has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, two BAFTA Awards and two NAACP Image Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

*Sources: britannica.com, nytimes.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Directed (3) — the average rests on these

- *When They See Us* (2019), Fi1m 84, Teleplay, Story, Director, Creator, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/when-they-see-us.md)
- *13th* (2016), Fi1m 84, Writer, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/13th.md)
- *Selma* (2014), Fi1m 84, Executive Producer, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/selma.md)

### Produced (1)

- *The White Tiger* (2021), Fi1m 78, Producer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-white-tiger.md)

## Complete filmography (35)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *14th* (2026), Director, Producer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/14th.md)
- *Origin* (2023), Writer, Director, Producer
- *DMZ* (2022), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *Naomi* (2022), series, Executive Producer, Teleplay, Writer, Creator
- *Colin in Black and White* (2021), series, Executive Producer, Director, Creator
- *The White Tiger* (2021), Producer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-white-tiger.md)
- *A Concerto Is a Conversation* (2020), Executive Producer
- *And She Could Be Next* (2020), series, Executive Producer
- *#blackAF* (2020), series, as Ava DuVernay
- *Cherish the Day* (2020), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator
- *A Black Lady Sketch Show* (2019), series, as Ava DuVernay
- *When They See Us* (2019), series, Story, Executive Producer, Director, Teleplay, Creator — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/when-they-see-us.md)
- *The Red Line* (2019), series, Executive Producer
- *A Wrinkle in Time* (2018), Director
- *Family Feud* (2018), Director, Writer, Producer
- *August 28: A Day in the Life of a People* (2017), Producer, Writer, Director
- *Girls Trip* (2017), as Ava DuVernay
- *Black America Again* (2016), Executive Producer
- *13th* (2016), Director, Writer, Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/13th.md)
- *Queen Sugar* (2016), series, Director, Creator
- *Selma* (2014), Director, Executive Producer, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/selma.md)
- *99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film* (2013), Associate Producer
- *Say Yes* (2013), Director, Writer
- *The Door* (2013), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Nine for IX* (2013), series, Director
- *Venus VS.* (2013), Director
- *Middle of Nowhere* (2012), Writer, Director, Producer
- *I Will Follow* (2010), Director, Writer, Producer
- *My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip Hop* (2010), Director, Executive Producer
- *Compton in C Minor* (2009), Director
- *This Is the Life* (2008), Director, Producer
- *Saturday Night Life* (2006), Director, Writer
- *Collateral* (2004), Unit Publicist — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/collateral.md)
- *Heist of Benin*, Director
- *King vs. the United States of America*, Executive Producer

## Gallery

- ![Ava DuVernay](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-acaf4460a0b8.jpg) Ava DuVernay — Stephanie Moreno/Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications for Peabody Awards/University of Georgia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Ava_DuVernay_-_Peabody_Awards_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Ava_DuVernay_-_Peabody_Awards_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Sundance Awards Ceremony (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-44d40576c7f3.jpg) Sundance Awards Ceremony (2012) — PunkToad, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/%22Middle_of_Nowhere%27s%22_Ava_DuVernay_Wins_the_Dramatic_Directing_Award.jpg/1280px-%22Middle_of_Nowhere%27s%22_Ava_DuVernay_Wins_the_Dramatic_Directing_Award.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ambassador and Mrs Emerson welcome Ava DuVernay the director and actor David Oyelowo from the film Selma to the reception (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-ef7b2fca7770.jpg) Ambassador and Mrs Emerson welcome Ava DuVernay the director and actor David Oyelowo from the film Selma to the reception (2015) — usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Ambassador_and_Mrs_Emerson_welcome_Ava_DuVernay_the_director_and_actor_David_Oyelowo_from_the_film_Selma_to_the_reception_%2816476251386%29.jpg/1280px-Ambassador_and_Mrs_Emerson_welcome_Ava_DuVernay_the_director_and_actor_David_Oyelowo_from_the_film_Selma_to_the_reception_%2816476251386%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-08d488f9e091.jpg) Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma (2015) — usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_Febrauary_2015.jpg/1280px-Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_Febrauary_2015.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-d47ba5fbbeea.jpg) Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma (2015) — usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_from_the_film_Selma_%2815882070453%29.jpg/1280px-Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_from_the_film_Selma_%2815882070453%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma with the Emerson family (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/121270/gallery-e35503c136ab.jpg) Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo and Colman Domingo from the film Selma with the Emerson family (2015) — usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_from_the_film_Selma_with_the_Emerson_family_%2816314443947%29.jpg/1280px-Ava_DuVernay%2C_David_Oyelowo_and_Colman_Domingo_from_the_film_Selma_with_the_Emerson_family_%2816314443947%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2017: Best Documentary Feature Film (nominated), for *The 13th*

### Other awards — 6 won

- International Emmy Founders Award 2022: International Emmy Founders Award (won)
- VH1 Trailblazer Honors 2019: VH1 Trailblazer Honors (won)
- Time 100 2017: Time 100 (won)
- Dorothy Arzner Directors Award 2015: Dorothy Arzner Directors Award (won)
- Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award (won), for *Middle of Nowhere*
- Sundance U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic 2012: Sundance U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic (won), for *Middle of Nowhere*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ava-duvernay