Samantha Bailey (born 1989) is an American writer, producer, director, and actress. She is known for the web series ''You're So Talented'' and '' Brown Girls''.

Career

Bailey was born and raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois in the Logan Square neighborhood. She began stage acting as a teenager and received her bachelor's degree from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

. After graduation, Bailey began acting professionally in the city's theatre community. She was frustrated by the quality of roles she was cast in and used that frustration to inform writing a sketch that would become ''You're So Talented''. She rose to prominence for the self-produced web series, a semi-autobiographical story about a struggling 25-year-old actress in Chicago. It was her first time directing and writing. ''You're So Talented'' was nominated for a Gotham Award in 2015. In 2017 she co-produced the web series '' Brown Girls'' with poet

Fatimah Asghar Fatimah Asghar is a South Asian American poet, director and screenwriter. Co-creator and writer for the Emmy-nominated webseries '' Brown Girls'', their work has appeared in ''Poetry'', ''Gulf Coast'', ''BuzzFeed Reader'', ''The Margins'', ''The ...

, which starred two young women coming to terms with queer identity, and navigating career and relationships. The series received a nomination for a 2017

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. The category was initiated in 2016 alongside Outstanding Short Form Variety Series and Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Rea ...

. Bailey and Asghar signed a deal to develop the series with

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. She co-produced the short documentary film ''Masculine/Masculine'' with Hank Jones at the 2018 LA Film Fest. Bailey has directed episodes of the television series '' Alone Together'', '' First Wives Club'', ''East of La Brea'', ''

Grown-ish ''Grown-ish'' (stylized as ''ish'') is an American teen comedy drama television series and a spin-off of the ABC series '' Black-ish''. The single-camera comedy follows the Johnson family's children as they go to college and begin their journe ...

'', '' Loosely Exactly Nicole'', and ''

Dear White People ''Dear White People'' is a 2014 American comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several black ...

'', for which she was also a writer and producer. In April 2022, Bailey was selected to direct episodes of the superhero streaming series '' Ironheart'', set 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 ...

Personal life

Bailey resides in Los Angeles.

Accolades

* 2018 – The Root 100 Honoree * 2018 – ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 30 Under 30

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Sam (director) 1989 births Living people American women film directors 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American actresses African-American television producers African-American film directors Writers from Chicago American women screenwriters Columbia College Chicago alumni Film directors from Illinois