Directors

Ryan Coogler

Coogler was born on May 23, 1986 in Oakland, California. Coogler lived in Oakland, until age eight, when he moved to Richmond, California. During his youth, he ran track and played football. He started his college journey at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, CA, on a football scholarship as a redshirt wide receiver his freshman semester intending to study chemistry. After Saint Mary's canceled its football program in March 2004, he transferred and earned a scholarship to play at and attend Sacramento State, where in his four years he grabbed 112 receptions for 1,213 yards and 6 touchdowns. At Sacramento, he majored in finance and took as many film classes as he could fit in with the rigors of college football. Following graduation he attended USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he made a series of short films. While at USC Film School, Coogler directed four short films, three of which won or were nominated for various awards: Locks (2009), Fig (2011), and Gap(2011).


Coogler's first feature-length film, Fruitvale Station (originally titled Fruitvale), tells the story of the last 24 hours of the life of Oscar Grant, who was shot to death by a police officer at Oakland's Fruitvale BART station on January 1, 2009. After the film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the top audience and grand jury awards in the U.S. dramatic competition, The Weinstein Company acquired the distribution rights for approximately US$2 million. In July 2013, it was reported that MGM had offered Coogler to direct Creed, which he had written with Aaron Covington and is a spin-off-sequel of the Rocky films. Creed, which was released on November 25, 2015 in the United States, reunited Coogler with Michael B. Jordan, who played Apollo Creed's son Adonis. The film was praised across the board by critics. In January 2016, Coogler signed on to co-write and direct the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther, making him the youngest Marvel Studios filmmaker. The film, starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular character, began production in January 2017, and was released in 2018.


Coogler will work with Jordan for a fourth time in the upcoming film Wrong Answer, based on the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.