Biography

DeZell is a black queer award-winning director, writer, actor, and producer hailing from Jackson, MS, and now based in West Hollywood, CA. DeZell holds an MFA in Creative Producing and Directing from Loyola Marymount's School of Film & Television. His latest film, Perspective, which examines the dual POV of a couple desperately clinging to a relationship doomed to fail, will have its world premiere at the 2024 Essence Film Festival. In 2023 DeZell won the ScreenCraft Writing Award and Best Student Film for my queer sci-fi DeZell short, The Confessional. DeZell also earned a Global Shorts Award for a short film DeZell produced and obtained the Hollywood Foreign Press Short Film grant while producing a film for my first blind director. As an actor, I've earned a nomination from the John F Kennedy Center for my portrayal of Lincoln in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog, by the famed Suzie Lori Parks. In 2019 DeZell was awarded the Trailblazer award by his undergrad Alma Mater, University of San Diego. DeZell is committed to amplifying and elevating the voices of the unheard through strong and nuanced visual storytelling.
- IMDb mini biography by: DeZell Lathon