Rick Famuyiwa

Rick Famuyiwa made his feature debut as writer/director on The Wood, the screenplay for which had been developed at the Sundance Institute. The sleeper hit movie starred Taye Diggs, Omar Epps, and Richard T. Jones.
He next directed and co-wrote another popular film, Brown Sugar, starring Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, and Queen Latifah. Mr. Famuyiwa's next feature projects are My Soul to Keep, which he will direct from his own adaptation of Tannarive Due's book of the same name; and The Wedding Pact and Bill Strickland, both of which he is writing and will direct.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, he double-majored there in Cinema/Television Production and Critical Studies. During his senior year at USC, he wrote and directed a thesis film, Blacktop Lingo. The short brought him acclaim and industry attention, and was one of 29 films selected (out of 1,500 submissions) to screen at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, making Mr. Famuyiwa the first undergraduate from USC to have a film shown at the Festival.

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