Antoine Fuqua

Antoine Fuqua (born January 19, 1966) is an American 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 2001 Academy Award-winning film Training Day.

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. After going to school for electrical engineering, with the hope of going on to fly jets in the military, Fuqua began his career directing music videos for popular artists like Toni Braxton, Coolio, Stevie Wonder, and Prince. From 1998 onwards, he began directing feature films, although he has worked on a few music videos since then.

His first feature film was the John Woo-produced action film The Replacement Killers (1998), starring Chow Yun Fat. He then directed the crime thriller Training Day (2001), for which star Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor. His next films were the action war drama Tears of the Sun (2003), the Arthurian legend film King Arthur (2004), the conspiracy action thriller Shooter (2007), the crime film Brooklyn's Finest (2010), and the action thrillers Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and The Equalizer (2014), the latter of which pairs Fuqua with Denzel Washington again. His most recent film is the action western The Magnificent Seven (2016).

Fuqua at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival

He co-created the comic book miniseries After Dark with Wesley Snipes, which was written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Jeff Nentrup.

Fuqua was scheduled to direct Prisoners, based on a storybook from Aaron Guzikowski, but left the project. He was slated to direct Tupac Shakur's official biopic. The project was postponed to allow Fuqua to direct rapper Eminem's second feature film, Southpaw. However, Eminem put Southpaw on hold to focus on music, and was replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal.

In 2010, CBS Films hired Fuqua to direct a new movie based on a Vince Flynn novel, Consent to Kill. In May 2014, 20th Century Fox set Fuqua to direct a drug smuggling thriller film Narco Sub which is scripted by David Guggenheim.

In March 2011, Fuqua signed on to direct a film featuring the romantic love story between Consort Yang Yuhuan and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty. As reported in March 2013, he has stated that he's awaiting for the film project to go through the appropriate Chinese government channels before directing the historical epic film, currently known as The Tang Dynasty.

In 2016, Fuqua directed The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 western of the same name and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, on which the western was based. This was the third of Fuqua's films starring Denzel Washington, who plays the lead role of Sam Chisolm. He was also the executive producer of the 2016 television remake of Roots.

Personal life

In 1998, he and actress Lela Rochon were engaged and they married on April 9, 1999. Daughter Asia Rochon Fuqua was born on July 28, 2002, followed by son Brando in May 2004. Fuqua has a son Zachary, from a previous relationship.

Music videos

Commercials

• Pirelli Tires – "The Call" (2006), featuring Naomi Campbell and John Malkovich

Other

• Inside Out IV (1992)
• Usher Live (1999)
• From Toni with Love: The Video Collection (2001)
• Lightning in a Bottle (2004)
• Murder Book (2005)
• The Call (2006)

• Fuqua, Antoine. "Mint Condition - "Nobody Does It Betta"". music video. mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10. 
• "Ladae - "Deep Down"". music video credits. mvdbase.com. Retrieved April 20, 2013. 

Critical, commercial, and audience reception to films Fuqua has directed: