John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 – April 28, 2019) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He was best known for writing and directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), with Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and Angela Bassett; for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest person to have ever been nominated for that award.
Singleton was a native of South Los Angeles, and many of his films, such as Poetic Justice (1993), with Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, King, and Joe Torry; Higher Learning (1995), with Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube, Omar Epps, Michael Rapaport, Kristy Swanson, and Fishburne; and Baby Boy (2001), with Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, Ving Rhames, Omar Gooding, A.J. Johnson, Taraji P. Henson, and Kevin Michael Richardson; had themes which resonated with the contemporary urban population.
Singleton also directed the drama Rosewood (1997), with Jon Voight, Rhames, Don Cheadle, Bruce McGill, Loren Dean, Esther Rolle, Michael Rooker; and the action films Shaft (2000), with Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa L. Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Dan Hedaya, Busta Rhymes, Toni Collette, and Richard Roundtree; 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), with Paul Walker, Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and James Remar; Four Brothers (2005), with Mark Wahlberg, Gibson, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard, Josh Charles, Sofia Vergara, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Fionnula Flanagan; and Abduction (2011), with Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, and Sigourney Weaver.
He also co-produced the Craig Brewer films Hustle & Flow (2005), with Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Henson, Paula Jai Parker, Elise Neal, DJ Qualls, and Ludacris; and Black Snake Moan (2006), with Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, and S. Epatha Merkerson. He co-created the television crime drama Snowfall. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for “The Race Card”, the fifth episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), with Sterling K. Brown, Kenneth Choi, Christian Clemenson, Gooding Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Nathan Lane, Sarah Paulson, David Schwimmer, John Travolta, and Courtney B. Vance.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Boyz n the Hood (1991)**
- Poetic Justice (1993)
- Higher Learning (1995)
- Rosewood (1997)
- Shaft (2000)
- Baby Boy (2001)
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Hustle & Flow (2005) – directed by Craig Brewer – co-producer
- Four Brothers (2005)
- Black Snake Moan (2007) – directed by Craig Brewer – co-producer
- Abduction (2011)
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