Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels (born December 24, 1959) is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster's Ball (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film. He made his directorial debut with Shadowboxer in 2005 and has since then directed the films Precious (2009), The Paperboy (2012, which he co-wrote), The Butler (2013) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021). Of these, Precious was the most critically acclaimed, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels, for Best Director and Best Picture. Other films he has produced include The Woodsman (2004), Tennessee (2008), Pimp (2018) and Concrete Cowboy (2020). Daniels has co-created and co-executive produced the TV series Empire (2015–2020) and Star (2016–2019), both set in the music industry. Early life Daniels was born on December 24, 1959, in West Philly, the eldest son of Clara May (Watson) and William Louis Daniels. Daniels has four siblings - Cheryl, Lydia (aka Girlie), Maynard and Leah. His younger sister, Leah Daniels-Butler, is a television and film casting director credited with casting many of his projects. When Daniels was a teenager, his mother arranged for a neighbor's family who was a butler for owner of Philadelphia Flyers hockey team to use that owner's address in Radnor so that Lee could attend the public Radnor High School. In 1975, when Daniels was 15 years old, his father, who was a police officer, was killed in the line of duty. He graduated from Radnor High School in 1978. After graduating from Radnor, Daniels attended Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. But he soon realized the liberal arts school was not for him, and he moved to Hollywood, eventually working as a receptionist in a nursing agency. Before long, Daniels started his own nursing agency, specializing in HIV/AIDS treatment. Eventually, he sold his nursing agency and segued into casting. He began his career in entertainment as a casting director and manager after a chance meeting with a Hollywood producer, working on such projects as Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon. He continued managing talent. The documentary My Big Break features Daniels early in his career when he was managing actor Wes Bentley, who starred as Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.