Kasi Lemmons

In 1997, Lemmons directed the film Eve's Bayou starring Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll, and Jurnee Smollett. Lemmons began writing the screenplay for Eve's Bayou in 1992. It was the first screenplay she had written by herself. To convince studios that she could direct Eve's Bayou, she filmed Dr. Hugo, a short film based on a section of the script of Eve's Bayou. Eve's Bayou was well-received among critics (currently holding an 80% rate of approval on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes) and won Lemmons an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature as well as a National Board of Review award for Outstanding Directorial Debut. It was the highest-grossing independent film in 1997. In 2001 she directed Jackson again in The Caveman's Valentine about a schizophrenic homeless man trying to solve a murder mystery. In 2002 Lemmons conceived and helmed the tribute to Sidney Poitier for the 74th Annual Academy Award show. Shortly afterwards it was announced that Lemmons would direct The Battle of Cloverfield, a supernatural thriller, from her own script for Columbia Pictures. In 2007, she directed Talk to Me that was centered around the television personality and activist Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., played by Don Cheadle. For the film, Lemmons received the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture and was named as Best Director by the African-American Film Critics Association. In a 2007 interview with FF2 Media's Jan Lisa Huttner, Lemmons said Talk to Me "became a film about a time when change was possible and even revolution was possible. We didn't know what was going to happen. It was a very devastating time and a very frightening time, but it was alive. It was alive." Lemmons adapted the Broadway musical Black Nativity and filmed it in 2013. It starred Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson, as well as Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett. Lemmons's 2019 film Harriet, a biographical film about Harriet Tubman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Its star, Cynthia Erivo, was nominated for an Academy Award. Lemmons said to the Los Angeles Times about her research for Harriet: "All the elements of a great adventure film are right there in the Harriet Tubman story. It's about a woman who was running a whole lot of her life so action did not have to be imposed. It's inherent. The jeopardy, the movement, the courage, that's all inherent and we wanted to let that play out on screen because we need our female hero stories. This one is about a tiny black woman who did incredible things." In August 2021, Lemmons was brought on to direct Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a Whitney Houston biopic for Sony Pictures, Compelling Pictures and Muse of Fire Productions from a script by Bohemian Rhapsody scribe Anthony McCarten. Lemmons explained during an interview that she considered writing to be central to her task as a director: "I've been writing scripts all the time, pretty much every day for fourteen years.... I have to write scripts, because that's the only way I can write parts that will get a lot of people whom I really want to work with involved." She also directed the Netflix limited series Self Made (2020) and one episode of ABC's Women of the Movement (2022).

• Year — Title — Notes • 1996 — Dr. Hugo — Short film • 1997 — Eve's Bayou • 2001 — The Caveman's Valentine • 2007 — Talk to Me • 2013 — Black Nativity • 2019 — Harriet • 2022 — Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody — Also executive producer Acting roles • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1988 — School Daze — Perry • 1988 — Vampire's Kiss — Jackie • 1989 — A Man Called Hawk — Lois • 1991 — The Silence of the Lambs — Ardelia Mapp • The Five Heartbeats — Cookie • 1992 — Candyman — Bernadette "Bernie" Walsh • 1993 — Fear of a Black Hat — Nina Blackburn • Hard Target — Det. Marie Mitchell • 1994 — Override — Short film • Drop Squad — June Vanderpool • 1997 — Gridlock'd — Madonna • Til There Was You — Angenelle • Liars' Dice — Teresa • 2006 — Waist Deep — Angry Black Woman • 2012 — Disconnect — Roberta Washington • 2026 — The Projectionist — Ramona

Lemmons has worked extensively as a mentor and educator. She has been a board member of Film Independent and has contributed to Film Independent's Filmmaker Labs as a speaker and moderator. She also continues to serve as an advisor to the Sundance Screenwriter and Filmmaker Labs. Guest lecturing and speaking engagements include Yale University, Columbia Film School, MIT, UCLA, USC, The Los Angeles Film School and The University of Pristina Film School in Kosovo. Kasi was Vassar College's 2008 Artist in Residence and in the 2010–2011 academic year, Lemmons was the UCLA Regents’ Lecturer in the School of Theater, Film & Television. She was also the leader/moderator of the AFI curriculum's core class, Narrative Workshop. She is an Associate Arts Professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

• Year — Award — Category — Nominee — Result • 1997 — NBR Award — Outstanding Directorial Debut — Eve's Bayou • 1998 — Black Film Award — Best Director • Independent Spirit Award — Best First Feature (Shared with Samuel L. Jackson (producer), Caldecot Chubb (producer)) • OFTA Film Award — Best First Feature Film • Palm Springs International Film Festival — Director's Achievement Award — Herself • 2007 — AAFCA Award — Best Director — Talk to Me • EDA Special Mention Award — Best Leap from Actress to Director • EDA Film Focus Award — Best Woman Director • WFCC Award — Best Movie by a Woman (Tied with Sarah Polley for Away from Her (2006)) • 2008 — Image Award — Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) • 2014 — Hollywood Award — Best Screenplay — Black Nativity • Black Reel — Outstanding Screenplay (Adapted or Original), Motion Picture • 2019 — Black Film Critics Circle — Best Director — Harriet • Best Picture • Mill Valley Film Festival — Mind the Gap Award • Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards — Elaine May Award • Women Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Movie by a Woman • Josephine Baker Award • Karen Morley Award • 2020 — AARP Movies for Grownups Awards — Best Screenwriter • Black Reel — Outstanding Director • Image Award — Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Film) • Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Film) • Outstanding Motion Picture