Barry Jenkins

Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American film director and writer based in Los Angeles, known for his films Medicine for Melancholy (2008) and Moonlight (2016), the latter of which received dozens of accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, the latter of which Jenkins shared with co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney. 2Early life Jenkins was born in Liberty City, Miami, the youngest of four siblings. His father died when he was 12, and had earlier separated from his mother, believing that Jenkins was not his biological son. During his childhood, Jenkins was raised by another woman in an overcrowded apartment. He attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where he played on the school football team. Jenkins later studied film at Florida State University in Tallahassee. 2Career 32000s–2010s: Early work Jenkins's breakout film was Medicine for Melancholy, a low-budget independent feature released in 2008, starring Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins. The film was well received by critics. After the success of his previous film, Jenkins wrote an epic for Focus Features about "Stevie Wonder and time travel" and an adaptation of the James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk, neither of which entered production. He later worked as a carpenter and co-founded an advertising company called Strike Anywher