Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels is perhaps best known for his Academy Award winning film PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE. The film was adapted from the New York Timesbestselling novel Push by Sapphire (a.k.a. Ramona Lofton). PRECIOUS was nominated for six Academy Awards, including nominations for Daniels in the category of "Achievement in Directing" and "Best Motion Picture of the Year, and wins in the categories of "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" and "Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay."

Daniels was the first African American to be nominated for a Director's Guild of America Award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film" on behalf of PRECIOUS. The film won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, only the third film in Festival history to do so. It was also nominated for three Golden Globe awards including "Best Picture Drama," and was nominated for eight NAACP Image Awards, six of which it won, in categories including "Outstanding Motion Picture" and "Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture, Theatrical or Television." The film also garnered a total of five 2010 Independent Spirit Awards, including "Best Feature" and "Best Director."

Daniels' production company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, made its feature film debut with MONSTER'S BALL, making Daniels the sole African-American producer of an Oscar®- winning and Oscar®-nominated film. Daniels also produced THE WOODSMAN which was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. The film received the CICAE Arthouse Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival, and Special Mention for Excellence in Filmmaking from the National Board of Review. SHADOWBOXER marked Daniels' directorial debut. Following the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Daniels was also nominated for the New Directors Award at the 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival.

Daniels wrote and directed THE PAPERBOY, which he also produced. The film, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman, is based on the 1995 novel by Pete Dexter that centers on a reporter (McConaughey) and his younger brother (Efron), who investigate the events surrounding a murder to exonerate a man on death row (Cusack). The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and was released by Millennium Entertainment in 2012.

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