Ryan Coogler

Biography

Ryan Kyle Coogler (born May 23, 1986) is an American filmmaker. He has received an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, four Black Reel Awards, a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and ten NAACP Image Awards. Coogler directed a few short films at the USC School of Cinematic Arts before his feature-length debut with Fruitvale Station (2013). He then transitioned to directing and writing franchise films, including the Rocky series spinoff, Creed (2015), as well as the Marvel films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Coogler also produced the historical drama Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and the supernatural horror film Sinners (2025), which he also wrote and directed. He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture for both films, while for Sinners, he was also nominated for Best Director and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. In 2013, he was included on Time's list of the 30 people under 30 who are changing the world. In 2018, Coogler was named the runner-up of Time's Person of the Year, and he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2021, Coogler, his wife, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian founded multimedia production company Proximity Media.

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