Julius Onah (born February 10, 1983) is a Nigerian-American filmmaker.
He has directed the films '' The Girl Is in Trouble'' (2015), ''

The Cloverfield Paradox ''The Cloverfield Paradox'' is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah and written by Oren Uziel, from a story by Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber. It is the third film in the ...

'' (2018), ''

Luce Luce may refer to: People * Luce (name), as a given name and a surname * Luce (singer) Places * Luče, a town in Slovenia * Luce, Minnesota, an unincorporated community * Luce Bay, a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland * Luce ...

'' (2019), and '' Captain America: Brave New World'' (2025).

Early life

Onah was born in Makurdi,

Benue State Benue is a State in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria. It is popularly referred to as part of the Middle belt. It has an estimated population of about 4,253,641 in List of Nigerian states by population, the 2006 census. ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. His father, Adoga Onah, was a Nigerian diplomat. He was raised in the Philippines, Nigeria, Togo, and the United Kingdom before moving to

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. Onah graduated from

Washington-Lee High School Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of Ar ...

in Arlington and received his B.A. in theater from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

. He completed an M.F.A. from the graduate film program at the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, where he was selected as a Dean's Fellow. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship.

Career

Onah's work has been screened at festivals around the world including Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Camerimage. In the summer of 2010, he was selected as one of ''Filmmaker'' magazine's New Faces of Independent Film. In 2013, he was selected as one of Studio System's 10 Up and Up Feature Directors and ''Forbes'' magazine's 13 African Celebrities To Watch. While at NYU's graduate film program he completed his first feature as his thesis, '' The Girl Is in Trouble'' (2015) with executive producer

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

, featuring Alicja Bachleda, Wilmer Valderrama, Columbus Short, and

Jesse Spencer Jesse Gordon Spencer (born 12 February 1979) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles as Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1994–2000, 2005, 2022), for which he was nominated for two Logie Awards, Dr. Robert ...

. Onah was previously set to direct the thriller film adaptation ''Brilliance'' for Legendary Pictures which David Koepp scripted with

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

and

Noomi Rapace Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...

to star as leads. He then directed ''

'' (2018) with producer J. J. Abrams. His film, ''

'', featuring Naomi Watts,

Octavia Spencer Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy ...

, Tim Roth and Kelvin Harrison Jr., premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. He and J.C. Lee wrote the screenplay of the thriller film ''Bad Genius'', a remake of the 2017 Thai film of the same name. He then directed '' Captain America: Brave New World'', the fourth ''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

'' film in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

, with Anthony Mackie starring in the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

Filmography

Film

Open Continents

Open Continents is a global media project comprising Onah's short, feature, music video and television work.

References

External links

* *
Open Continents
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onah, Julius 1983 births Film directors from Virginia American horror film directors Living people People from Arlington County, Virginia Tisch School of the Arts alumni Washington-Liberty High School alumni Wesleyan University alumni Nigerian directors