- Born
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Lee Daniels gave his parents an early Christmas present when he entered the world on December 24, 1959; unfortunately, the Philadelphia native was to have a difficult relationship with his police officer father who later reacted violently to his son's sexuality. Despite the brutality of his childhood, Lee completed high school and attended Lindenwood University in St.Charles, Missouri for two years.
Daniels's career took an interesting and profitable turn. He moved to Los Angeles and started a nursing agency of his own. He later sold the agency for a substantial sum then began his career in entertainment, first as a casting director and later as a manager. By his mid-twenties, he was working with Prince on Purple Rain (1984) and Under the Cherry Moon (1986). Despite being involved in film production, Lee continued to manage talent and grew a roster of clients that included several Academy Award nominees and winners.
He created his own production company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, and its first film was the acclaimed Monster's Ball (2001), which starred Billy Bob Thornton, the late Heath Ledger and Halle Berry, who went on to win the Best Actress Oscar. Monster's Ball was a critical and financial success and as its producer, Daniels became a force to be reckoned with.
In 2004, Lee used skills honed as a filmmaker to produce a series of public service announcements aimed at inspiring young people of color to vote. He worked with former President, Bill Clinton and was able to enlist actor/rap artist LL Cool J and actor/singer Alicia Keys. Lee's next production, The Woodsman (2004), was another edgy tale about a pedophile trying to reform after being released from prison and starred Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Yasiin Bey. While The Woodsman (2004) was not the critical success that Monster's Ball (2001) was, it attracted a great deal of critical attention and earned its star, Kevin Bacon, raves for his performance.
Daniels made his directorial debut with his next project, Shadowboxer (2005), a provocative drama with an intriguing cast that included Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr., Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Stephen Dorff. Shadowboxer (2005) was also the first time Lee worked with Mo'Nique; unfortunately, despite an interesting cast, Shadowboxer (2005) received mixed reviews and failed at the box office. Lee's next production, Tennessee (2008) was not a critical or financial success but allowed Lee to help singer 'Mariah Carey' gain acting credentials after the failure of her first film, Glitter (2001).
Daniels hit the mother lode with his next effort, Precious (2009), which he directed and produced. The film won at the Sundance Film Festival and has garnered every imaginable accolade under the sun. The film stars newcomer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role as a Harlem teen who is the victim of unimaginable abuse from her father, mother and society. The film allowed Daniels to re-team with both Mariah Carey and Mo'Nique, who has been a revelation to both critics and audiences as Precious's abusive mother. Daniels has said that he felt compelled to bring this story of child abuse to the screen to help heal the scars from his relationship with his abusive father.- IMDb Mini Biography By: digitaldiva - Lee Daniels is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor, providing audiences with a unique and refreshing experience and character insight with each of his projects. In 2013 he released the critically acclaimed box office smash Lee Daniels' The Butler, an epic drama set against the tumultuous political backdrop of 20th century America that tells the story of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), an African American butler who served at the White House during seven presidential administrations between 1957 and 1986. The film, released in August 2013, held the number one box office spot for three consecutive weeks and has to date grossed over $175 million worldwide.
Daniels is widely known for his Academy Award winning film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. The film was adapted from the New York Times-bestselling 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."
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' 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.
In 2012, Daniels released The Paperboy, which he wrote, directed, and 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.
Daniels' most recent work includes the hit television series "Empire" for FOX, for which he wrote and directed the pilot and continues serves as a producer on the series. This one hour family drama is set in the world of a hip-hop empire that features both original and contemporary music. Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson star, with Timbaland producing the show's original music. The show premiered in January 2015 and broke ratings records during its first season.
In 2015, Daniels went on to sign an overall development deal with Fox television, where he continues to create develop, write, direct and supervise new projects under his Lee Daniels Entertainment banner. His first project under the deal was the television series "Star", centered around three women in a musical group in Atlanta, starring Queen Latifah and Benjamin Bratt, along with three female newcomers. Other projects that have so far been announced under the deal include Victory, East of Hope, Ms Pat, Our People, and Mason Dixon. In 2018 Daniels re-upped his overall deal with Fox television.
In addition to his successful film career, Daniels is also a passionate advocate and philanthropist. Daniels sits on numerous boards including Ghetto Film School, a non-profit which helps to educate, develop, and celebrate the next generation of great American storytellers. Daniels is also a longtime LGBT activist, as well as a strong supporter of many charitable organizations.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lee Daniels Entertainment
- RelativesLeah Daniels Butler(Sibling)Clara Daniels(Sibling)Liam Daniels(Sibling)Mia Farrow(Cousin)James Heath-Clark(Cousin)
- Often casts musicians
- Raised twins Clara and Liam, who are biologically his niece and nephew, as his own children since they were three days old in the mid-1990s. They were born to his brother and his girlfriend, and were adopted by Daniels and his then-boyfriend, Billy Hopkins (who is also his casting director).
- Revealed that his father was physically abusive and that he did not approve of Daniels' homosexuality.
- Is the second African-American to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (Precious (2009)).
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6533 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 2, 2016.
- His father, William Daniels, was a police officer in Philadelphia, who was killed in the line of duty. He died when Lee Daniels was age 13.
- My roots, my DNA, what I know is what it's like to live as an African-American and as a gay man. And I think trying to marry myself, ad stories that speak to me, to the studio world has been hard. They want Precious (2009), they want another something like that, but they're afraid.
- I can't embrace anything unless I can identify with the world. I think what made Precious (2009) so true is that, down to the wallpaper, I worked from a snapshot of the room that I grew up in, the hallway I grew up in. I knew exactly where the paint was going to chip from the wall. Whether or not I'll be able to capture that detail and that truth again, I don't know.
- [on making Precious (2009)] There wasn't the name game where you have to have this person or that person, and this person equals this amount of money, and that person means it will sell foreign. It was, "You have X amount of dollars," ... I think we started at $8 million--and "go with God".
- I was always intrigued with European cinema, and hated most American cinema. I didn't like the one, two, three-boom! style, with a neat and tidy ending. That was never my scene.
- [on how much the commercial prospects of a project play into what he decides to make] Of course it does. When you have two kids about to go to college, you have to say it is a business. Unfortunately, I think my artist supersedes that [laughs]. It's a problem when your artist supersedes your brain! I end up going with what my gut and spirit tell me.
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