---
name: "Dianne Houston"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/dianne-houston"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "22 July 1954"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:21:07.073561+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."
---

# Dianne Houston

Director. Born 22 July 1954 in Washington, D.C..

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 22 July 1954, Washington, D.C.

## Biography

Dianne Houston is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter. Born on 22 July 1954 in Washington, D.C., she attended Howard University. She began in experimental theatre in New York before moving into film and television.

Houston wrote and directed the 1995 short film *Tuesday Morning Ride*, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film in 1996, becoming the first African-American woman nominated for an Oscar in a directing category. Her other credits as writer include the screenplay for *Take the Lead* (2006) and episodes of *Empire* (2015–2020) and *When We Rise* (2017). She has directed episodes of *NYPD Blue* (2002), *Crossing Jordan* (2004), *Empire* and other series, as well as the television films *Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland* (2017) and *Runaway Island* (2015).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *NYPD Blue* (1993), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/nypd-blue.md)

## Also known for

- *Empire* (2015), Writer, Director
- *Take the Lead* (2006), Screenplay
- *Crossing Jordan* (2001), Director
- *Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland* (2017), Director
- *When We Rise* (2017), Writer

---
© 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/dianne-houston