- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Daniel Singleton
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Son of Danny Singleton, a mortgage broker, and Sheila Ward, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and raised in separate households by his unmarried parents, John Singleton attended the Film Writing Program at USC, after graduating from high school in 1986. While studying there, he won three writing awards from the university, which led to a contract with Creative Artists Agency during his sophomore year. Columbia Pictures bought his script for Boyz n the Hood (1991) and budgeted it at $7 million. Singleton noted that much of the story comes from his own experiences in South Central LA and credited his parents with keeping him off the street.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tony Adam <anthony-adam@tamu.edu>
- SpouseAkosua Busia(October 12, 1996 - June 15, 1997) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenCleopatra Singleton
- Frequently cast hip-hop musicians (e.g. Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Busta Rhymes)
- Films often centered around inner-city tension
- Frequently cast Tyrese Gibson
- Was the youngest person ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Director (at age 24) (1992).
- Started Ice Cube's acting career; on the Queen Latifah Show (1999), Ice Cube stated that John Singleton screen-tested him to see if he could act.
- Met Laurence Fishburne when he was a PA on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986). Fishburne played Cowboy Curtis.
- He was the first African-American person to be nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards.
- Was working as an intern for The Arsenio Hall Show (1989) while writing the script of Boyz n the Hood (1991), which is also where he met Ice Cube, who went on to star in the movie.
- I think 'Rosewood' reflects a maturation for me as a film maker. Getting the whole "Boyz 'n' the Hood" monkey off my back.
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