John Singleton obituary

John Singleton obituary – John Daniel Singleton was a director, screenwriter, and producer from the United States. He was born on January 6, 1968, and passed away on April 28, 2019, at the age of 51.

Shelia Ward-Johnson (later Morgan), a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate dealer, mortgage broker, and financial planner, gave birth to Sigleton on January 6, 1968.

Singleton was a Spring 1987 initiate into the Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and graduated from USC in 1990. Singleton considered pursuing computer science but enrolled in USC’s Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring – a program designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writers/directors.

Singleton made his feature picture debut writing and directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Oscar Award for Best Director, becoming the first African American and youngest person to be nominated for that honor at the age of 24.

Other films directed/written by Singleton include the romantic drama Poetic Justice (1993), the socially conscious drama Higher Learning (1995), the historical drama Rosewood (1997), the crime film Shaft (2000), the coming-of-age drama Baby Boy (2001), and the action films Two Fast Two Furious (2003) and Four Brothers (2005).

Singleton’s films highlighted the African-American experience in urban areas, focusing on topics such as black manhood, trauma, racism, and ethnicity. He was one of the most successful and revolutionary directors in African-American cinema.

Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, and André 3000 were all cast in major roles by Singleton.

Singleton fathered seven children. His first daughter, Justice Maya Singleton (born 1992), was named after the principal character of the same name (played by Janet Jackson) in Poetic Justice and the poet Maya Angelou.

With ex-girlfriend Vestria Barlow, Singleton has a boy named Maasai Singleton (born April 3, 1996) and a daughter named Cleopatra “Cleo” Singleton (born September 6, 1998).

Singleton married Ghanaian actress Akosua Gyamama Busia, the daughter of Ghana’s second Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia, on October 12, 1996. Hadar Busia-Singleton (born April 3, 1997), the couple’s daughter, appeared in Tears of the Sun (2003) and other films. In June 1997, Singleton and Busia divorced.

He had one daughter in 2010 with Mitzi Andrews, an actress/model, and teacher based in Toronto, Canada.

He also had a son, Seven, with Rayvon Jones.

Singleton experienced a stroke on April 17, 2019, and was hospitalized in intensive care.

Eleven days later, on April 28th, Singleton was taken off life support and died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 51.

Source: abtc.ng