Emmy Award-winning writer, creator and actor, Lena Waithe has established herself as a talent to be reckoned with, who only continues to grow her body of work with diversity and charisma. Waithe and her production company, Hillman Grad Productions, have become champions of spotlighting unrepresented voices. In a short time, they have produced groundbreaking pieces of art such as the critically acclaimed debut film from Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version, which has earned Blank the Directing Award at Sundance, Best First Film at NYFCC Awards, Directors to Watch at PSIFF, Next Generation Award, at LAFCA Awards and Best Screenplay at the Gotham Awards. Waithe and Hillman Grad Productions have also produced: the landmark semi-autobiographical BET series, Twenties, which featured the first masculine-presenting Queer woman of color in a lead role; Waithe’s feature film screenwriting debut for Universal, Queen & Slim, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith and directed by Melina Matsou
Emmy Award-winning writer, creator and actor, Lena Waithe has established herself as a talent to be reckoned with, who only continues to grow her body of work with diversity and charisma. Waithe and her production company, Hillman Grad Productions, have become champions of spotlighting unrepresented voices. In a short time, they have produced groundbreaking pieces of art such as the critically acclaimed debut film from Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version, which has earned Blank the Directing Award at Sundance, Best First Film at NYFCC Awards, Directors to Watch at PSIFF, Next Generation Award, at LAFCA Awards and Best Screenplay at the Gotham Awards. Waithe and Hillman Grad Productions have also produced: the landmark semi-autobiographical BET series, Twenties, which featured the first masculine-presenting Queer woman of color in a lead role; Waithe’s feature film screenwriting debut for Universal, Queen & Slim, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith and directed by Melina Matsoukas; BET’s television revival of the classic film, Boomerang; the short-form sneakerhead culture docuseries, You Ain’t Got These; and the award-winning Showtime series, The Chi. For her success and massive efforts to elevate marginalized POC and LGBTQIA storytellers, Waithe was presented with Variety’s 2020 Creative Impact in Producing Award and The Hollywood Reporter’s 2020 TV Producer of the Year, making her the youngest to receive the honor. Waithe previously made history for being the first Black woman to win an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series on behalf of her episode Thanksgiving, which was inspired by her own powerful story of coming out to her mother. Upcoming projects for Waithe include the highly anticipated Amazon Original series, Them; a Sammy Davis Jr. biopic for MGM based on the 1996 biography Sammy Davis Jr.: My Father, the directorial debut of A.V Rockwell, A Thousand and One; an Amazon Original series based on Obehi Janice’s play Fufu & Oreos; Universal’s upcoming drama, Talent Show; and the launch of The Hillman Grad Mentorship Lab, which provides opportunities for aspiring creatives to connect, grow, and accelerate their careers in television and film. On the acting side, Waithe was most recently seen in HBO’s award-winning series, Westworld, the Sundance favorite and Hulu horror satire, Bad Hair and heard in Netflix’s beloved animated series, Big Mouth.
