Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker. She is a recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee for an Academy Award and Golden Globe. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY. After making her directoral debut, I Will Follow (2010), DuVernay won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first black woman to win the award.
For her work on Selma (2014), a biopic about Martin Luther King Jr., DuVernay became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the film went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her other film credits include the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary 13th (2016) and the Disney fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018), the latter making her the first African-American woman to direct a film with a budget of $100 million. In 2023, she directed the biographical film Origin based on Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020).
DuVernay's television credits include the OWN drama series Queen Sugar (2016) and two Netflix drama limited series: When They See Us (2019), based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case and Colin in Black & White (2021), based on the teenage years of NFL player Colin Kaepernick. In 2017, DuVernay was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2020, she was elected to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences board of governors as part of the directors branch.
Read more...The August 24, 1972 was a Thursday under the star sign of ♍. It was the 236 day of the year. President of the United States was Richard M. Nixon.
If you were born on this day, you are 53 years old. Your last birthday was on the Sunday, August 24, 2025, 271 days ago. Your next birthday is on Monday, August 24, 2026, in 93 days. You have lived for 19,629 days, or about 471,100 hours, or about 28,266,029 minutes, or about 1,695,961,740 seconds.
Date: 25 August 1972
Special to The New York Times
D Hicks Jr, editor of recently burned down paper Monroe County Democrat, says he will not have to close down paper because people in town have helped him move into another bldg and have lent him equipment
Date: 24 August 1972
Special to The New York Times
Monroe County Dem newspaper plant in Tenn is burned down on Aug 23 in latest of series of violent acts against editor D Hicks Jr in last 5 yrs; Hicks says he is unsure whether he can continue publishing because he has been unable to get ins on plant; has stirred controversy on topics such as parking meters and alleged pol corruption; illus of Hicks at burned down plant
Date: 24 August 1972
Attys for D Ellsberg and A J Russo in Pentagon papers case ask Sup Ct on Aug 23 to rule on wiretapping issue involving defense's allegation that Govt used electronic eavesdropping device to listen in on phone conversation of defense team member
Date: 24 August 1972
US Ct of Appeals overturns contempt convictions of L Dickinson (Baton Rouge Morning Advocate) and G Adams (State-Times), ruling that 'censorship in any form' is incompatible with free press; reporters defied order of US Dist Judge E G West not to publish accounts of testimony given in connection with conspiracy charges
Date: 24 August 1972
NYS Sup Ct on Aug 23 adjourns hearing on application by NY Times for preliminary injunction against NY Mailers Union Local 6 until Aug 29; Judge N T Helman continues temporary stay against mailers' work stoppage, which prevented paper from pub Aug 21 edition
Date: 25 August 1972
Ga legislator J Bond urges blacks on Aug 24 to unite in effort to expel Nixon from office; says Nixon Adm promises that black people would be included in nation's econ and soc life have not been carried out
Date: 25 August 1972
NYC Newspaper Reporters Assn votes on Aug 24 to change name to NY Press Club
Date: 24 August 1972
US Olympic marathon runner K Moore files formal complaint on Aug 23 concerning route that has been selected for 26-mile race in Olympic Games; complains that part of route is covered with either gravel or rutted paths
Date: 24 August 1972
Natl Assn of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) on Aug 23 places 8 schools on probation, 6 for violation of assn's participation policy and 2 for violation of eligibility rules
Date: 25 August 1972
Chicago Black Hawks of NHL file suit in US Dist Ct, Chicago, asking that B Hull be prohibited from making statements to press or lending his name to promotion for Winnipeg Jets of WHA