Dianne Houston is an African-American film director, producer and screenwriter.
14 Facts About Dianne Houston
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Dianne Houston is the first, and thus far only, African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for work she directed.
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Dianne Houston was born on July 22,1954, to Jack, an Army psychologist, and Edith, a schoolteacher.
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Dianne Houston grew up in the Lamond Riggs neighborhood of Washington, DC.
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Dianne Houston attended Woodrow Wilson High School, and was a student at the Workshops for Careers in the Arts on the campus of George Washington University.
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Dianne Houston later returned to Washington, DC, in order to earn a fine arts degree in theater direction from Howard University.
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Dianne Houston directed it at the Back Alley Theater in Washington, DC The play went on to be performed at the East Bay Arts Center in Richmond, the Sojourner Truth Cultural Arts Center in Fort Worth, and the 14th Street Playhouse in Atlanta.
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Dianne Houston sought her out to provide "doctoring" on one of its screenplays.
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In 1994 Dianne Houston wrote the screenplay for "Override", a science fiction short film based on the short story, "Over the Long Haul," by Martha Soukup.
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Dianne Houston was one of four people selected to participate from 1,000 applicants.
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Dianne Houston said of the film, "I have two elderly people with everything to live for and no way to do it in this society".
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Dianne Houston became the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Oscar for directing work, and was the only African-American nominee out of nearly 170 total nominations.
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Jesse Jackson, pointing out Dianne Houston being the only nominee of color, called for a boycott of the Oscars and led a demonstration against Academy Award broadcaster, ABC, to protest the film industry's lack of racial inclusion in hiring and creative opportunities.
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Dianne Houston has since directed for a variety of TV series, including Empire, NYPD Blue and Crossing Jordan.