Barry Jenkins

Actor, Producer, Writer

Birthdate: November 19, 1979 (46 Years Old)

Birthplace: Miami, Florida, USA

Barry Jenkins is a highly acclaimed American independent filmmaker who has had, on balance, the most artistically successful career as a Black American cineaste since Spike Lee, including directing and writing the Oscar-winning Moonlight (2016). Jenkins impressively launched his feature filmmaking journey as director/writer of the gorgeous Bay Area-set love story, Medicine for Melancholy (2008), starring Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins, and Elizabeth Acker, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and released by IFC Films and grossing nearly ten times its $15,000 budget. Jenkins made two short films before Medicine for Melancholy, and then made four shorts afterward from 2009 to 2012, preceding his breakthrough project as director/writer of Moonlight (2016), based on playwright Tarbell Alvin McCraney’s unpublished play and story and co-starring Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland, Janelle Monáe, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali, and released by A24 to a potent $65 million (on a $4 million budget) along with a huge wave of critical support and industry awards and nominations. Jenkins’ follow-up as director/writer/producer was another critical success, the elegant James Baldwin adaptation, If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry and Regina King, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and grossing nearly $21 million for distributor Annapurna Pictures. Barry Jenkins co-wrote the story (with Chris Boyd and Kirk Sullivan) for Angel Manuel Soto’s drama, Charm City Kings (2020), starring Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Meek Mills, Will Catlett, and Teyonah Parris, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before a release by HBO Max. Jenkins served as a producer only on his next two exceptional feature projects: British director/writer Charlotte Wells’ highly acclaimed father-daughter debut drama, Aftersun (2022); and another exceptional debut, Raven Jackson’s poetic family saga, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023), premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and produced and released by A24. Jenkins joined another acclaimed work of Black cinema as both writer and producer of the boxing drama, The Fire Inside (2024), co-starring Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry under Rachel Morrison’s direction and released by Amazon MGM Studios. Jenkins was director only for the first time, and for his first big studio project—Disney’s computer-animated Mufasa: The Lion King (2024), with voice actors Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Seth Rogan, Beyoncé, Billy Eichner, Tiffany Boone, Donald Glover, and Mads Mikkelsen, and written by Jeff Nathanson.

Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

Barry Jenkins was born in Miami, Florida, and was raised in the Miami community of Liberty City by a woman other than his mother. Jenkins has said that he didn’t know who his father was since his mother was a crack-addicted teenage runaway who couldn’t raise him and couldn’t confirm who his father was. Jenkins attended Northwestern Senior High School, where he studied creative writing played football, and was on the track team. Jenkins studied filmmaking at Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, from which he graduated with a B.A. degree. Jenkins has been in a relationship with filmmaker Lulu Wang since 2018. Jenkins’s height is 5’ 7”.

Known For

Mufasa: The Lion King

Director (2024)

If Beale Street Could Talk

Director (2018)

Moonlight

Director (2016)

Awards

Three-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Awards (2017, 2019); Winner, Best International Series, BAFTA TV Awards (2022); Winner, Best British Independent Film, British Independent Film Awards (2022); Nominee, Golden Frog, Cameraimage Festival (2021); Winner, Best Director, Directors Guild of America Awards (2022); Three-time Nominee, Best Director-Limited or Anthology Series or Movie/Best Limited or Anthology Series, Emmy Awards (2021, 2024); Three-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Screenplay, Golden Globes Awards (2017, 2019); Three-time Winner, Best Feature/Best Screenplay/Audience Award, Gotham Independent Film Awards (2016); Six-time Winner, Best Director/Best Screenplay/Robert Altman Award/Best Feature/Best First Feature, Independent Spirit Awards (2017, 2019, 2023); Winner, Best Director, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (2016); Three-time Winner, Best Director/Best Writing/Best Director-Drama Series, NAACP Image Awards (2017, 2022); Two-time Winner, Best Director/Best Adapted Screenplay, National Board of Review Awards (2016, 2018); Winner, Best Director, National Society of Film Critics Awards (2017); Winner, Best Director, New York Film Critics Circle Awards (2016); Winner, Directors to Watch, Palm Springs Film Festival/Variety Awards (2017); Winner, Audience Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival Tiger Awards (2017); Two-time Winner, USC Scripter Award/Scripter Literary Achievement Award (2017, 2022); Winner, Best Original Screenplay, Writers Guild of America Awards (2017);

Independent Spirit Award

Independent Spirit Award

Film Independent Spirit Awards

Someone to Watch Award

Someone to Watch Award

Film Independent Spirit Awards

Oscar

Oscar

Academy Awards, USA

Barry Jenkins Movies

Director

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Previous (2)

2018 |
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
2018
Drama, Romance
A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
More Info
2016 |
Moonlight
Moonlight
2016
Drama
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

Producer

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Previous (4)

2024 |
The Fire Inside
The Fire Inside
2024
Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Claressa 'T-Rex' Shields, a boxer from Flint, Michigan who trained to become the first woman in her country's history to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport.
More Info
2023 |
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
2023
Drama
A decades-spanning exploration of a woman's life in Mississippi.
2022 |
Aftersun
Aftersun
2022
Drama
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.
2018 |
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
2018
Drama, Romance
A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
More Info

Writer

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Previous (2)

2024 |
The Fire Inside
The Fire Inside
2024
Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Claressa 'T-Rex' Shields, a boxer from Flint, Michigan who trained to become the first woman in her country's history to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport.
More Info
2018 |
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
2018
Drama, Romance
A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
More Info

Facts About Barry Jenkins

Cinephile: Barry Jenkins was attracted to the adventurous world cinema of filmmakers like Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao Hsien, and Wong Kar-wai when he was studying film at Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. Soured (then Sweet) on Hollywood: Jenkins moved to Los Angeles four days after graduating from Florida State’s film school, and worked with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, but grew disillusioned with the production process and wanted to make his kind of movies—-even though, by 2023-2024, Jenkins would be making a movie at Disney, Hollywood’s biggest studio.

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