Ain't No Mo'

Lee Daniels is an Academy Award^®-nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor, providing audiences with a unique experience and raw character insight with each of his projects. In 2001, Daniels founded Lee Daniels Entertainment, a full-service production company that is home to inclusive storytelling and serves as a platform for diverse and underrepresented voices to create authentic and original content. LDE made its feature film debut with Monster’s Ball, making Daniels the first African American producer of an Academy Award-winning film. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning film Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including nominations for Daniels in the categories of Achievement in Directing and Best Motion Picture of the Year. In 2013, he released the critically-acclaimed box office smash Lee Daniels’ The Butler, 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. Daniels just wrapped production on his next film, The Deliverance, an exorcism thriller for Netflix, which he wrote, directed, and produced. The project stars Mo’Nique, Andra Day, Glenn Close, Aunjanue Ellis, Omar Epps, and Caleb McLaughlin. In February 2021, Daniels’ latest feature, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, was released by Hulu. A drama based around the court case of famed singer Billie Holiday (Andra Day) after she was arrested at her apartment for the possession of narcotics, Daniels both directed and produced the film. Daniels’ work with Andra on the film yielded her a Golden Globe Award^® for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama and a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. On the small screen, Daniels created the hit television series “Empire” (FOX) where he wrote and directed the pilot and continued to serve as an executive producer on the series until its season six finale in April 2020. The ground-breaking drama, starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, with Timbaland producing the show’s original music, premiered in January 2015 and broke ratings records during its first season. In May 2021, Daniels signed a new multi-year overall deal with 20th Television, extending his previous deal with the studio that began in 2014. He continues to create, develop, write, direct and supervise new projects under his Lee Daniels Entertainment banner. His current and recent projects include the critically acclaimed hit series “The Wonder Years,” “The Ms. Pat Show,” and upcoming the untitled Sammy Davis Jr. limited series for Hulu, to be co-written and directed by Daniels. In addition to his successful film and television career, Daniels is also a passionate advocate and philanthropist. He sits on numerous boards including The Public Theater and 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 LGBTQIA activist, as well as a strong supporter of many charitable organizations.

Stevie Walker-Webb is an award-winning director, writer and cultural worker who believes in the transformational power of art. As a survivor of poverty and the associative violence that comes with growing up Black and poor in America, he creates work that liberates and reframes the narratives of marginalized groups. He is co-founder and Executive Director of Hundreds of Thousands, an arts and advocacy non-profit that makes visual the suffering and inhumane treatment of incarcerated mentally ill people and the policies that adversely impact their lives. He’s received an Obie Award for directing Ain’t No Mo (The Public Theater). He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for theater, The Lily Award in honor of Lorraine Hansberry awarded by the Dramatists Guild of America, a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and a Wellspring Scholar. He’s the Founding Artistic Director of the Jubilee Theatre in Waco, Texas, and has created art and theatre in Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico, Mississippi and across America. His work has been produced by: The Public Theater, American Civil Liberties Union, The New Group, Cherry Lane, Zara Aina, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage, La Mama and Theatre of the Oppressed-NYC. Along with his art and advocacy work, Stevie currently teaches and creates art at Harvard University and New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts. For more information about Stevie, visit www.steviewalkerwebb.com

Jordan E. Cooper is a 27-year-old Obie Award-winning playwright and performer who was chosen to be one of OUT Magazine’s Entertainers of the Year. He was recently selected as a Whiting Award winner for Drama. Jordan was also featured on the final season of FX’s groundbreaking series “Pose” as ‘MC Tyrone’. His play Ain’t No Mo’ was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and is set to hit Broadway in the fall of this year. He recently created and executive produced his first television project “The Ms. Pat Show,” which is hailed by critics as “one of the most radical sitcoms of the modern era.” He is currently the youngest black showrunner in television history and is now also the youngest American playwright in Broadway history.