Justin Simien

Justin Simien is a Black gay American filmmaker and writer, born in Houston and trained in film at Chapman University, known for Dear White People (2014), a sharp satire about race at an Ivy League university that won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at Sundance and that he expanded into a Netflix series (2017), and for Bad Hair (2020), a horror-comedy set in 1989 about a Black woman whose new weave develops a murderous mind of its own, using body horror to dramatize the pressures Black women face over their hair and appearance. He came out as gay publicly and has spoken about being a Black gay man making work that centers race and identity simultaneously in an industry that would prefer it do one or the other. He has been involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy and mentorship.