John Singleton

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'' in 1991, 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), ''

Higher Learning

'' (1995), and '' Baby Boy'' (2001), had themes which resonated with the contemporary urban population. He also directed the drama ''Rosewood'' (1997) and the action films ''Shaft'' (2000), ''2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), and '' Four Brothers'' (2005). He 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''.

Early life

John Singleton was born on January 6, 1968 in Los Angeles, the son of Shelia Ward-Johnson (later Morgan), a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner. In a 1993 DIRT magazine interview with Veronica Chambers, Singleton says of his childhood, "When I was growing up, comic books, video games and movies were my buffer against all the drugs, the partying and shit ..I never grew up with a whole lot of white people. I grew up in a black neighborhood." He attended Eisenhower High School, Blair High School,

Pasadena City College

and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated from

USC

in 1990, and was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Singleton considered pursuing computer science, but enrolled in USC's Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring. The program was designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writer/directors. He cited the original ''Star Wars'' film as one of his strongest influences and the work of

Steven Spielberg

as a source of inspiration.

Career

John Singleton's film debut ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), an inner city dramatization of his upbringings in South Central LA with characters loosely based on persons in his real life, including childhood best friends' Roman J. Artiste, aka "little Jimmy" (the real Ricky) and Michael Winters (the real Doughboy), starring Cuba Gooding, Jr.,

Angela Bassett

,

Ice Cube

, and Laurence Fishburne, was both a critical and commercial success. It debuted at the

Cannes Film Festival

. For his efforts, Singleton received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. At age 24, he became the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African-American to be nominated for the award (four others Lee Daniels,

Barry Jenkins

, Jordan Peele, and

Spike Lee

have been nominated since). The film has since attained classic status, and in 2002, the United States

Library of Congress

deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

His directing ability led to the VFX-driven "Remember the Time" music video for

Michael Jackson

, which featured Eddie Murphy,

Iman

and

Magic Johnson

. His next films were ''Poetic Justice'' (1993) and ''

Higher Learning

'' (1995), which were similarly socially conscious and received mixed to positive reviews. Of his work with some of the 1990s' most visible rappers, Singleton states,

"I come from the same place as rappers. It's cool because it's just another form of communication. I have the same sensibilities as rappers. I'm not bourgeois and everything, thinking I'm better than folks. I see myself as the first filmmaker from the hip-hop generation. I've grown up with hip-hop music. The films I make have a hip-hop aesthetic. It may not have rap in it, but there's a whole culture and politics that go with the music. It's young, Black culture-that's what I deal with in my films."

The film ''Rosewood'' (1997), Singleton's historical drama about racial violence, was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Bear. Both this film and '' Baby Boy'' (2001) received predominantly positive reviews and helped establish Singleton's critical reputation. Additionally, his adaptation of ''Shaft'' (2000), starring

Samuel L. Jackson

in the title role, was successful critically and commercially.

John later turned to directing action films, such as ''2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003) and '' Four Brothers'' (2005), which received mixed reviews. In 2005, Singleton teamed with Craig Brewer and financed the independent film '' Hustle and Flow'', once it was clear that most other major backers would not clear it for release. In 2003, Singleton received a star at the

Hollywood Walk of Fame

.

It was announced in 2013 that Singleton was attached as the director of a Tupac Shakur biography film. On April 3, 2015, Singleton reported that production was put on hold. Four days later, it was announced that following creative differences with Morgan Creek Productions, Singleton had stepped down as director, and was replaced by Carl Franklin. Singleton also stated he was planning on making a competing film about Tupac.

After directing episodes of the critically acclaimed TV shows ''Empire'' and ''American Crime Story'', he served as an executive producer of the crime drama series ''Rebel'' for BET and co-created ''Snowfall'' for FX.

Personal life

John Singleton was the father of eight children. With his former wife, Tosha Lewis, he had his first daughter Justice Maya Singleton (born 1992).

John has a son named Maasai Singleton (born April 3, 1996) and a daughter named Cleopatra "Cleo" Singleton (born September 6, 1998) with ex-girlfriend Vestria Barlow. On October 12, 1996, Singleton married Ghanaian actress Akosua Gyamama Busia, the daughter of Ghana's second Prime Minister Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia. The couple had a daughter named Hadar Busia-Singleton (born April 3, 1997), who appeared in ''Tears of the Sun'' (2003) and other films. Singleton and Busia divorced in June 1997. He had one daughter in 2010 with Mitzi Andrews, an actress/model and teacher based in Toronto, Canada. He also had a son, Seven, with Rayvon Jones.

On August 23, 2007, Singleton was involved in an automobile accident in which he struck a

jaywalking

pedestrian, Constance Russell, 57, of Los Angeles. Staying on the scene until the police arrived, Singleton was not under the influence of alcohol or other substances, and was released after being questioned. Russell died later in the hospital. The case was turned over to the District Attorney, but no charges were ever filed.

On March 19, 2014, Singleton criticized popular studios for "refusing to let African-Americans direct black-themed films". John Singleton told an audience of students at Loyola Marymount University "They ain't letting the black people tell the stories." He also added, "They want black people o bewhat they want them to be. And nobody is man enough to go and say that. They want black people to be who they want them to be, as opposed to what they are. The black films now—so-called black films now—they're great. They're great films. But they're just products. They're not moving the bar forward creatively. ...When you try to make it homogenized, when you try to make it appeal to everybody, then you don't have anything that's special."

Sexual harassment allegations

In November 2017, Danielle Young, a journalist for ''The Root'' who had interviewed Singleton in June 2017, said he sexually harassed her after the interview and while taking a photo she posted on Instagram.

Illness, death and legacy

On April 17, 2019, Singleton suffered a

stroke

and was placed under intensive care. He reportedly began to experience weakness in his legs after returning to the United States from a trip to

Costa Rica

. On April 25, it was reported that he was in a coma, but his daughter stated otherwise. On April 28, Singleton was removed from life support, and he died at the age of 51 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Dozens of actors and musicians paid tribute to him.

American rapper and actor

Ice Cube

, who worked with Singleton in ''Boyz n the Hood'' and ''Higher Learning'', said: "There are no words to express how sad I am to lose my brother, friend & mentor. He loved

o

bring the black experience to the world." Cuba Gooding Jr., who was given his first major role by Singleton in ''Boyz n the Hood'', paid tribute to his late friend by singing "One Day More" from ''Les Misérables'', a favorite song of Singleton.

A private funeral was held on May 6, 2019 in

Los Angeles

, and John Singleton was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. The official cause of death was acute ischemic stroke,

intracerebral hemorrhage

, and

hypertension

.

Filmography

Film

Acting credits

Other credits

Television

Acting credits

Other credits

Music video

* ''Remember the Time'' for

Michael Jackson

(1992)

See also

* List of youngest Academy Award nominees

References

Further reading

*
*Carr, Joi (March 2018
''Boyz n the hood: shifting Hollywood terrain''.
Peter Lang Publishing,Inc.
''The Real Boyz N The Hood - John D. Singleton (Tre), Michael Winters (Doughboy) and Roman J. Artiste (Ricky)''.

External links

Films of John Singleton
a critical fan site endorsed by Singleton.
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singleton, John
1968 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
African-American film directors
African-American film producers
African-American male actors
African-American screenwriters
African-American television producers
American film producers
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American music video directors
Blair High School (Pasadena, California) alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Film directors from Los Angeles
Film producers from California
Male actors from California
Male actors from Los Angeles
Neurological disease deaths in California
Pasadena City College alumni
People from Los Angeles
People from South Los Angeles
Screenwriters from California
Television producers from California
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
Writers from Los Angeles