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John Daniel Singleton was born on January 6, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and his work was very much inspired by his hometown.
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Growing up in the 70s there was a lot of racism and social changes. This is what pushed Singleton to share his stories about urban life.
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During his teenage years, John Singleton attended Eisenhower High School and later Blair High School in Los Angeles. He started out writing movie reviews for his school newspaper, which is what inspired him to get involved with film and he graduated in 1986.
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After graduating Singleton started attending Pasadena City College where he put his focus solely on storytelling and film before transferring to USC.
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Singleton began studied screenwriting at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. His professors motivated him to tell his story.
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While studying at USC, Singleton wrote one of his most known movies Boyz n the Hood which is about life in South Central, LA. He almost immediately started gaining attention.
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Singleton directed in, made his debut of Boyz n the Hood. He was 23 years old and this is what launched his career.
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At the age of 24 singleton was the first African-American and also the youngest person to be nominated for the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay Award.
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Singleton directed poetic justice starring Tupac Shakur and Janet Jackson. This fume showed his versatility going from realistic hood films to a love story.
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In 1995 Singleton directed Higher Learning which shine light on racism and violence on a college campus. there were a lot of growing tensions during this time period.
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Rosewood was a powerful drama about the 1923 massacre in Florida. Another massive piece about racism and injustice.
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Single directed chef starring Samuel L. Jackson which was a combination of action in social commentary.
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John hit us with his signature; Another South Central base masterpiece Call baby boy in 2001. This film start Taraji P. Henson and Tyrese Gibson.
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2 Fast 2 Furious is a sequel of The Fast and the Furious and this was his first mainstream movie. Now he has begun experiencing commercial success.
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Singleton create’s an action film starring Tyrese Gibson and Mark Wahlberg who played two brothers going through an emotional roller coaster to seek justice for their mother.
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Singleton produced Hustle Flow, a film about a Memphis rapper striving for success. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
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Singleton mentored emerging African American directors and spoke publicly about the need for authentic Black representation in Hollywood.
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John Singleton co-created Snowfall with shine light on a crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles during the 1980s.
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Because of the health issue that Singleton was experiencing, we saw the last season of snowfall in 2019.
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In April 2019, Singleton suffered from a stroke. Nonetheless, he received an unbelievable amount of support from the filmmaker community.
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On April 28, 2019 John Singleton passed away. This was a heartbreaking loss for a few makers in movie lovers all around the world. May he rest in peace.