- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter Gordon
- Jamaa Fanaka was born on September 6, 1942 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Welcome Home Brother Charles (1975), Penitentiary (1979) and Street Wars (1991). He died on April 1, 2012 in South Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- He was a member of the L.A. Rebellion, a group of African American U.C.L.A. film school graduates who came of age in the late 1970s in the era of the so-called Blaxploitation era. The group's defining aesthetic was to move beyond the pimp stereotypes and funk soundtracks in film portrayals of African Americans.
- He was one of the few African American members of the Directors Guild of America but found the organization to be insular like the rest of the film industry.
- He served in the United States Air Force. After his service, he attended a community college film program which led him to University of California film School at the Los Angeles, California location. He made three films before graduation with highest honors.
- He was a fan of Billy Wilder films and wanted to make popular and serious films himself.
- He is survived by his three daughters, Tracey Gordon, Twyla Gordon Louis, and Katina Gordon Scott; a son, Michael Gordon; his parents, Robert Gordon and Beatrice Gordon; two brothers, Joseph Gordon and Robert Gordon; a sister, Carmen Gordon Sanford; and nine grandchildren.
- I exposed the Achilles' hell of Hollywood.
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