Joe Robert Cole (born January 1, 1980) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-nominated and

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

-winning work on the first season of the

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television series ''

American Crime Story ''American Crime Story'' is an American biographical crime drama anthology television series developed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are also executive producers, alongside Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Ryan Murphy, and Bra ...

'', titled '' The People v. O. J. Simpson'', and for co-writing the film ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

'' and its sequel, '' Wakanda Forever''.

Early life

Cole, an only child, moved around a lot growing up, which he felt "prepared" him to be a writer, a desire he only discovered during college. He soon applied to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Career

During his tenure at the university, Cole entered the film business, working as a writer on the 2006 film '' ATL'', although not receiving a credit. In 2011, he released his first feature film as a director and writer, ''Amber Lake''.

Marvel Studios' program

After writing a "''

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

''-style cop script", Cole was invited to a meeting with

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

, where he was told that they had plans of doing a movie about the character

War Machine War Machine (Col. James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by David Michelinie, John Byrne, and Bob Layton as a supporting character for Iron Man, he first appeared i ...

. He pitched a story and was chosen to write the film, but, according to him, "they decided, based on what ''

Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...

'' was going to be, they weren't going to do ''War Machine'' anymore." Marvel subsequently invited him to join its writers program. In regards to the program, Cole said: In 2014, Cole wrote a script for a projected movie about the

Inhumans The Inhumans are a superhuman race of super beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The comic book series has usually focused more specifically on the adventures of the Inhuman Royal Family, and many people associat ...

Television

In 2016, the television series ''

'' was released. Cole served as co-producer of the first season, '' The People v. O. J. Simpson'', and wrote two episodes, "The Race Card" (for which he was nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special This is a list of the winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Winners and nominations 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Total awards by network * HBO � ...

) and "A Jury in Jail".

''Black Panther''

While working on ''The People v. O. J. Simpson'', Cole was approached by Marvel Studios' producer Nate Moore, wanting to know if he was willing to write a film about

. He immediately accepted. Cole was part of a competition, but was ultimately chosen to write the screenplay with director

Ryan Coogler Ryan Coogler (born May 23, 1986) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is a recipient of ten NAACP Image Awards and four Black Reel Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe ...

Filmography

Film

Acting role * ''White Dwarf'' (2014) (As Joe)

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Joe Robert Living people Film directors from California American film editors African-American television writers American television writers African-American male actors African-American film directors African-American screenwriters African-American television producers American male film actors American male screenwriters American male television writers University of California alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Writers Guild of America Award winners 1980 births 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people African-American male writers