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At the age of 24, the youngest individual and the first African American ever to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award, John Singleton made movie history with Boyz ‘N the Hood, his astonishing 1991 directorial debut. An intensely personal portrait of life and death in South Central L.A. that was inspired by the director’s own experiences, the film earned Singleton comparisons to past wunderkind Orson Wells and heralded him as one of Hollywood’s most important new directors. John followed up his amazing success with “”Boyz ‘N The Hood””, with other personal films like Poetic Justice which featured the film debut of Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, Higher Learning, and Rosewood. Last year John went mainstream with the smash remake of “”Shaft”” which starred Samuel L. Jackson. With his latest film, Columbia Picture’s “”Baby Boy””, John returns to his “”Boyz N The Hood”” roots with this intensely personal drama about a black man’s struggle to find his way in life.
Over the years John has been credited with discovering new talents like Cuba Gooding, Jr., Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, and igniting the careers of stars like Lawrence Fishburne and Ving Rhames. He hopes to have the same midis touch with his latest finds, R & B star Tyrese Gibson and Taraji Henson. We recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with John and his newest prot