Ava DuVernay

Entertainment

b. 1972

California Connection

• Lifelong Los Angeles resident

Achievements

Biography current as of induction in 2024

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s feature work includes the Academy Award-winning historical drama “Selma”; the Academy Award-nominated criminal justice documentary “13^th”; the Sundance Best Director Award win for her micro-budgeted romance “Middle of Nowhere”; and Disney’s “A Wrinkle In Time,” which made her the highest-grossing Black woman director in American box office history. In 2019, her four-part television series “When They See Us” was honored with 16 Emmy nominations. DuVernay’s critically acclaimed TV series “Queen Sugar”is the longest-running Black family drama series by a Black woman creator in American television history.

DuVernay amplifies films by people of color and women of all kinds through her nonprofit narrative change collective ARRAY, which is the winner of the Peabody Institutional Award. The filmmaker sits on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences representing the director’s branch. She is a vice president of the Directors Guild of America and an advisory board member of the American Film Institute. DuVernay has previously served on the juries of Cannes Film Festival and Mumbai Film Festival. She is based in Los Angeles.

View more inductees from the 17th class, inducted in 2024.