Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay is an Academy Award nominee and recipient of Emmy, BAFTA, Peabody, Image and Sundance Awards. Her work includes Selma, the first film directed by an African-American woman to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award; 13th, which earned her the first Oscar nomination for a Black woman in a feature directing category; and Middle of Nowhere, making her the first African-American filmmaker to win Sundance鈥檚 Best Director Prize. Her series When They See Us garnered 16 Emmy nominations and her series Queen Sugar became the longest-running Black family drama in television history, spanning 88 episodes over seven seasons. With Disney鈥檚 A Wrinkle in Time, she became the first Black woman to gross $100 million in U.S. box office history. And in 2023, she made history again as the first African-American woman director to compete at the Venice Biennale in its 100-year history with her feature film, Origin.
DuVernay is the founder of the narrative change studio ARRAY, recipient of the Peabody Institutional Award. Her cultural influence has been celebrated by the Smithsonian in 2025 with its Great Americans Medal, as well with a commissioned likeness by the National Portrait Gallery, a sold-out Barbie doll and a custom Ben & Jerry鈥檚 ice cream flavor.
DuVernay serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, representing the directors branch, and holds advisory roles with both the Directors Guild of America and the American Film Institute. She is based in Los Angeles, California.