John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 – April 28, 2019) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest person to have ever been nominated for that award. Singleton was a native of South Los Angeles, and many of his films, such as Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1995), and Baby Boy (2001), had themes which resonated with the contemporary urban population. He also directed the drama Rosewood (1997) and the action films Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005). He co-created the television crime drama Snowfall. He was nominated the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for "The Race Card", the fifth episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.\n', '

Singleton was born in Los Angeles, the son of Sheila Ward-Johnson, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner. He attended Blair High School, Pasadena City College and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated from USC in 1990, and was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.\n', '

Singleton had considered pursuing computer science, but enrolled in USC\'s Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring. The program was designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writer/directors. He cited the original Star Wars film as one of his strongest influences, and the work of Steven Spielberg as a source of inspiration.\n', '

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