Antoine Fuqua

Antoine Fuqua (born January 19, 1966) is an AfroAmerican film director and producer. Initially active as a music video director, he has worked primarily in the action and thriller film subgenres, and is best known for his Academy Award-winning film Training Day (2001).\n', ' Fuqua began his career directing music videos for popular artists such as Toni Braxton, Coolio, Stevie Wonder and Prince. From 1998 onwards, he began directing feature films. Fuqua has expressed his early respect for Akira Kurosawa as a filmmaker and written about how Kurosawa influenced his own perspective on filmmaking.\n', ' Fuqua was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Carlos and Mary Fuqua. He is the nephew of record producer and executive Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows. Fuqua, in a tribute to screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, described his childhood as growing up in a Pittsburgh "ghetto" stating: "(Hashimoto\'s writing) … affected a boy from Pittsburgh living in the ghetto". Fuqua adds in the same tribute essay describing his own youth stating: "I came from a rough area, and I had my own version of watching poor people getting pushed down--whoever the person was who had the power, they would come in and take from other people". Fuqua, in the same tribute indicated the films of Akira Kurosawa influencing the ideals of his youth by seeing in the films of Kurosawa, "a universal story about a universal reason that people fight for justice". Before turning to filmmaking and music videos, Fuqua studied electrical engineering, with the hope of going on to fly jets in the military. \n', '