Baby Boy

In 1991, 23-year-old director John Singleton guided viewers through South Central Los Angeles, taking for the first time an unflinching look at the devastating impact of violence on the black family. Boyz N the Hood ’s realistic portrayal of the inner city changed the face of black cinema forever.

Ten years later, the Academy Award®-nominated director and writer returns to the same inner-city L.A. neighborhood and its complex social and political issues for the story of Jody (Tyrese Gibson), a misguided, 20-year-old African-American male who is really just a ‘baby boy’ finally forced—kicking and screaming—to face the commitments of real life.

Streetwise and jobless, he has not only fathered two children by two different women—Yvette (Taraji P. Henson) and Peanut (Tamara LaSeon Bass)—but still lives with his own mother. He can’t seem to strike a balance or find direction in his chaotic life. To make matters worse, Jody must contend with his volatile best friend, Sweetpea (Omar Gooding), who has spent his life shuffling in and out of prison and seems to find trouble wherever he goes.  

In the meantime, Jody’s 36-year-old mother, Juanita (A.J. Johnson), has finally started to live her life again and is dating Melvin (Ving Rhames), a reformed O.G. (“old gangster”). Juanita is enjoying the simple things in life—her mantras, her garden, her new man—and wants Jody to finally take responsibility for his own life and children. Once Melvin moves in, there’s little room in the nest for a kid who’s overstayed his welcome and is perfectly content to ride the line between boy and man.

Inevitably, on a journey filled with violence, romance, tears and laughter, Jody must face Melvin, both his “baby mamas,” a new adversary, Rodney (Snoop Dogg), and his own fears of adulthood if he wants to escape the life of a baby boy. 

Baby Boy, a cautionary South Central tale that pulls no punches as it examines the complexities of the extended black family, is a Columbia Pictures presentation of a New Deal Production, a John Singleton film. Baby Boy is written and directed by John Singleton. Producers are Singleton and Dwight Williams. The creative team includes cinematographer Charles E. Mills, production designer Keith Brian Burns, costume designer Ruth Carter and editor Bruce Cannon. Baby Boy has been rated R by the MPAA for STRONG SEXUALITY, LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE and SOME DRUG USE.

about the production

            “For me, this movie is like watching the soul of a black man on screen,” says John Singleton. “It may be dysfunctional, but it’s real. I’m not celebrating something that is not reality; I’m just being honest to a story that I’m familiar with.”

Adds Ving Rhames, who plays reformed convict Melvin, “this movie is like Unforgiven—no one is wearing a halo on his head. Everyone in this movie is human. They’ve become who they’ve become due to circumstances, situations, their environments and their relationships.”

Baby Boy gives voice to the many young black men who have yet to embrace the responsibilities of adulthood while at the same time illustrating what single mothers go through attempting to raise young men on their own. “This movie is about a generation of young black men who haven’t grown up,” says Singleton. “They’ve all been raised by women, so they’re always trying to show how much of a man they are when what they really are are baby boys.”

“I like the fact that John basically says, ‘look, this is what happens, what has happened, what is still going to happen in our communities if we as black men don’t take control of the black family unit,’” says Rhames.

Though it addresses similar issues, Singleton stresses that Baby Boy is a companion piece, not a sequel, to Boyz N the Hood.

“This movie is the third of what I call my ‘hood trilogy,’” explains the director. “The first was Boyz N the Hood, the secondwas Poetic Justice and the third is Baby Boy. Baby Boy is set in South Central L.A. and is based on characters that I know about.”

Despite the film’s specific locale, Singleton points to the universality of his characters. “Even if you haven’t lived the lifestyle of these characters,” he says, “we all know people like them.”

For Baby Boy, Singleton assembled a cast of virtual unknowns, including singer and MTV VJ Tyrese Gibson, actresses Taraji P. Henson and Tamara LaSeon Bass, and newcomer Omar Gooding. “There’s nothing like working with new talent,” explains Singleton of his fondness for working with unseasoned actors. “It allows me to really influence them as artists. They don’t come into the readings with any preconceived notions about who they think their characters are or why they shouldn’t do certain things.”

Singleton knew he had to find just the right actor to play the character of Jody. A 20-year-old man-child, Jody has two babies by different women yet still lives with his mother and her O.G. boyfriend. The majority of his waking moments Jody spends in his room, losing himself in a world of remote-control lowrider model cars.

After Singleton’s original choice, Tupac Shakur, who starred in Poetic Justice, was tragically killed, Singleton put the Baby Boy script on the shelf. “I thought there was no way I could find somebody to give the heart and soul of what I wanted the character to be,” explains Singleton. “And then came Tyrese.”

“John had been sitting on the script for Baby Boy for a while,” recalls Tyrese. “He came to me about this movie a long time ago, but I was real intimidated with the whole acting thing.” Then he read the script.

“It was addictive. I couldn’t put it down. I just embraced the character.”

Tyrese remembers vividly the night before his audition for Singleton. “John left me a message on my answering machine. He went through the whole list of actors and actresses that have come his way and have gone on to be successful after they did a film with him. That meant so much to me.”

Undertaking his first major film role was a challenge for Tyrese. “The transition into acting was something that was very deep for me,” says the young performer. “I just know the kind of pressure that I had. I couldn’t take this lightly.”

Slightly humbled by his experience, Tyrese continues, “I just can’t stress enough how much I respect this world of acting. I was blessed to have this situation happen for me.”

            For Tyrese, as for many of the film’s actors, the contemporary themes in Baby Boy ring true. “I based Jody off of Tyrese,” he says. “Jody is like me in a lot of different ways. I don’t have any kids, but I was born and raised here in the hood. I’m from Watts, so I didn’t have to go soul searching. I didn’t have to do any research. I’ve been around this all my life,” he explains.

            “Baby Boy is about something that goes on all around the world,” he continues. “There’s always gonna be a conflict, there’s always gonna be egos. This is the way we go about dealing with the conflict in the hood.”

“Jody is me if I never went to college or never got out of the neighborhood,” Singleton echoes. “He's my friends and cousins and millions of young black people. One day, my mother was watching me shoot a scene and she said, 'All you're doing is playing in the neighborhood again, except now you've got a camera to play with.’”

            Ving Rhames, who grew up in Harlem on 126^th Street, was also struck by the parallels between the film and his own life. “The whole gang-banging lifestyle is a vicious cycle. We have five, six generations that are born into that cycle. At some point, somebody has to say, ‘no, it has to stop.’ I’m the first generation to break the cycle of poverty in the Rhames family. But I owe it to all of those generations ahead of me, for what they suffered and went through.”

            Rhames, who worked with Singleton on 1997’s Rosewood, has observed the young director’s development over the years. “Singleton has really grown as a director. He’s studied the human condition and the human experience. He studies film as an art form. He studies the art of directing.”

Rhames has strong opinions about the many commentaries the film makes on the black family unit and on the role that the black man plays within that unit. “With a lot of these problem kids, the father image is not there. The streets become their father. The O.G. becomes their father.

“I want to show the other side of the O.G. gang-banger,” says Rhames.
“I think that’s the major difference in the character of Melvin—his vulnerability.”

As for what Tyrese refers to as the “baby mama drama” in the story—the fact that Jody has fathered two children by two different women and usually fails at the daily juggling act he must perform to stay involved in their lives—Rhames says: “I think it’s one of our responsibilities as black men. If we don’t get along with our babies’ mamas, we still have a responsibility to that child. A lot of times, we run from that responsibility. I think this film really deals with what happens when a piece of the black family unit is taken away.

“When that happens, then the woman has to become the father and mother. It’s very difficult for a woman to teach a boy how to become a man,” says Rhames.

“The drama of maintaining a relationship with someone you have kids with, but don’t live with, is definitely explored in the movie,” adds Singleton.

Taraji P. Henson, who plays Yvette, feels that everyone will relate to the interpersonal entanglements in Baby Boy. “I think a lot of people will really identify with the different relationships in the movie, and learn from them. We’ve all been through it; we’ve all been through some type of situation where you know it’s not healthy but you’re in it anyway. Personally, it gives me closure to a part of my own life when I had to deal with a knucklehead like Jody. The script was so amazingly close to certain points in my life that I often had to put it down. It hit so close to home.”

Henson dubs Jody “a mama’s boy” and feels the film delivers an important message. “You gotta grow up at some point. You gotta grow up and leave the nest and be a man. Mama’s not gonna be there all the time.”

Tamara LaSeon Bass, who plays Peanut, Jody’s second ‘baby mama,’ points out the positive flip side of this message. “I believe that Baby Boy is out there to empower men without degrading women. It doesn’t set us up to make us look like we’re just out to keep the men down. It’s truly a movie that’s out to lift the brothers up.”

            Not everyone related so closely to the experience of the characters. Says A.J. Johnson, who plays Juanita, Jody’s mother who looks young enough to be his sibling, “I had to work really hard at researching Juanita because, unfortunately or fortunately, I really didn’t have anybody in my immediate family that was anywhere close to her.

            “I was born in Fairhaven, NJ to a two-parent household,” the actress continues. “My parents came to my softball games. I was head cheerleader, homecoming queen, the whole bit. So when I read the story, I felt like I really needed to research the life and the lifestyle. I wanted to do a good job.”        

            “When A.J. Johnson auditioned for the role of Juanita,” says Singleton, “she rocked it. I knew I had found what I was looking for. In most films, we see the mom in a very traditional way. She’s older, conservative, likes to cook and clean. Overall, we haven’t seen the new young mom on screen, and A.J. brings that to life.”

According to Johnson, the story is indeed about young mothers—“babies having babies. It’s also about relationship woes and a generation’s problems—when you have two kids trying raise each other and their children, without a man in the household.”

But it’s also about positive images of black relationships, the actress stresses. “We haven’t really seen strong healthy black relationships on film in a long time, if ever, and there’s a really good one in this story. I don’t think John’s trying to make a point by it. I think he’s just trying to show what black love can be like when it’s really, really good and it’s really, really strong.

“There’s a lot of dysfunction,” the actress adds about the relationships in the movie, “but there’s also a lot of love.”

Omar Gooding, who plays Jody’s hot-tempered friend, Sweetpea, is the younger brother of Academy Award® winner Cuba Gooding Jr., who turned in a stunning early performance in Singleton’s Boyz. The addition of Omar to the cast was a conscious decision. “Omar is going to be as big as his brother,” says Singleton. “They’re both superb actors that bring their own nuances to a character.”

Gooding, who worked with Tyrese on an episode of “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” when they were just teens, recalls his first meeting with Singleton ten years ago. “I originally met him on the set when Cuba was doing Boyz, and then I would see him from time to time. One day last year he called me and said, ‘Do you want to read for a part?’ I was like, with it.”

            Although the film roils with conflict and strife, in Gooding’s view, it ultimately ends on a note that bodes well for the futures of the characters. “I think if you saw a sequel to this film, it would show Sweetpea on the right foot. It would show Jody taking care of his responsibilities as a man, not running around like a little baby boy. It would show the relationship between a good black man and a good black woman.”

Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg stars as the pivotal character of Rodney in his first movie for John Singleton. “Snoop is humble and gracious. He treats everybody the way he wants to be treated. He is what he is to the public’s eye, but I know him in another light,” says Tyrese. “Snoop’s shown me that if you lay back and be humble and just real content with who you truly are, then no level of success will ever affect that.”

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A police helicopter circles over Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. Knotted orange trees in backyards glisten with all the serenity that South Central Los Angeles can muster. It’s a place that some people call home; others know it more intimately as “the hood.” South Central Los Angeles is inner-city America at its finest, and the site of this unwavering yet cautionary urban anecdote about the extended African-American family and the often devastating effect violence can have on it.

After spending several months shooting Shaft in New York City, John Singleton was ready to return to the Southern California neighborhood he knows best. Shooting for Baby Boy took place exclusively on location in South Central at such well known locations as the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall, the Crenshaw Car Wash, Liquor Bank, Kenneth Hahn Park, and along Martin Luther King Blvd.

As important as the locations in establishing the right attitude for the movie was the music. The Universal Records soundtrack, a mix of hip-hop and R&B that hits stores June 12, is headlined by Snoop Dogg and Tyrese’s funk-infused lead single, “Just a Baby Boy.” All of the songs from the Baby Boy soundtrack appear in the film. Singleton, who also serves as executive producer of the soundtrack, worked closely with the label in putting it together.

For Singleton and star Tyrese, shooting in South Central was a homecoming of sorts. “It felt really good shooting in areas that I grew up in. Every location you see in this movie has some bearing on my life,” Singleton says proudly.

            “I don’t want to say that it’s been painful to do this movie, but it sure brought back memories,” adds Tyrese.

Scattered among the debris of Singleton’s gritty South Central landscape, there are answers to be found. “The answer is Jody’s acceptance of being a young adult, and just being able to say that his mama is gonna live her life and he’s gonna live his. He’s just gonna go ahead and do his thing,” says Tyrese. “Eventually you gotta accept the fact that you’re an individual.”

The young performer hopes audiences will respond to Jody’s transformation over the course of the film. “When people go to the movie theater and see this, and see that my life experiences can change, they’ll change. They’ll accept independent happiness.”



Baby Boy succeeds at catching the intimate moments between black men and women that are rarely visible on screen and introduces a new kind of coming-of-age hero that just might have something to teach the world.

“This movie ought to be a wake-up call to black fathers,” says Ving Rhames. “We’re not there with our children, and we need to be.”

In essence, John Singleton views Baby Boy as a film rendition of the late Marvin Gaye's “What's Goin' On,” taking a look at a lost generation of young black men and searching their souls in an effort to find out what makes them tick. 

Singleton views Jody and his ilk “as young lions on the Serengeti, except they're going around the Crenshaw Mall, checking out the 16-year-old girls.” While making desperate attempts to define themselves, they are forced to protect themselves in a white-washed world that views them as public enemy #1. Their women have bought into this notion, too.

“In the hood, you're still a child until you’ve amassed a rep or a record, then you’re a man,” says Singleton. “I'm not putting a good or bad [judgment] on it. It's the way it is. We just try to survive.”

about the cast

Just entering his 20s and in the prime of his life, RCA recording artist, actor and model tyrese gibson (Jody) has already accomplished more than many people do the entire length of their careers. Born and raised in Watts, California, a section of South Central Los Angeles, Tyrese discovered his love of music at an early age and released his self-titled debut album at 19. In January 2000 he received an American Music Award for “Favorite New Artist.” In addition to his zest for music, he has also found success in the acting and modeling worlds, having appeared in several commercials and television series, as well as his exclusive contract with Guess? 

Featuring both solo and collaborative writing efforts, Tyrese’s music melds together the essence of hip-hop and R&B with great energy and style. His dynamic, upbeat hits have appeared on the Blue Streak and The Best Man soundtracks, and as his first musical effort approaches double-platinum, Tyrese celebrates the May release of his sophomore album, “2000 WATTS.”

Tyrese is currently one of MTV’s favorite VJs. His acting roles have included guest-starring appearances on the long-running television series “Moesha,” “Martin” and “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” Perhaps one of his most memorable acting credits to date is his Coca-Cola commercial (as the kid in headphones singing on the bus), which put him in the spotlight and helped him gain international recognition.

One of the most sought-after African-American male models in the nation, Tyrese has been featured in numerous print and television ad campaigns for such top brands as Tommy Hilfiger. A member of the elite Ford Modeling Agency, his exclusive sponsorship with Guess? included everything from advertising and promotions to special guest appearances and performances.

omar gooding (Sweetpea) most recently starred with Danny Glover in TNT’s movie-for-television “Freedom Song.” He starred for three seasons in the popular sitcom “Smart Guy” on the WB. In addition to his acting career, Gooding’s musical group “Omar Gooding and Legion” (Thump Records) recorded their first single, “Mamacitas,” which is currently enjoying airplay.

Gooding has been an actor since age 11 and has worked constantly. He voices several characters in Warner Brothers’ animated series “Batman Beyond” and was seen on several episodes of “Zoe.” His numerous credits include a regular role as Earvin, the cool, wise-cracking teen on ABC’s hit “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” He hosted the popular Nickelodeon series “Wild and Crazy Kids,” starred in “The Ernest Green Story,” a Disney Channel film, and co-starred with Bill Cosby in the feature Ghost Dad. He has made guest appearances on the television shows “Thea,” “Empty Nest” and “Just the Ten of Us.” Omar had recurring roles on “The Royal Family” and NBC’s “Blossom.”

Gooding’s talent was recognized by the industry when he received the 1991 “Youth in Film Award.” In 1993, Omar garnered First Place honors at the prestigious Shakespeare Festival.

Gooding comes from a show business dynasty. His big brother and mentor, Cuba Gooding Jr., won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for Jerry Maguire. Both of his parents started their careers in music; Cuba Gooding Sr. as lead vocalist of “Main Ingredient” (“Everybody Plays the Fool”) and Shirley Gooding as a member of the popular New York ensemble singing group “The Sweethearts,” which shared the same label as Jackie Wilson and Linda Hopkins.

a.j. johnson (Juanita) is an honors graduate of Spelman College, an all-female college in Atlanta, Georgia. The program is affiliated with the Morehouse College, an all-male school. The New Jersey native is a former Miss Morehouse.

Johnson’s other film credits include High Frequency and The Inkwell. She can be seen in Tara, which is slated for release this year, in the role of Nina.

taraji p. henson (Yvette) co-starred in the May 2001 CBS “Murder She Wrote” movie called “The Last Free Man” starring Angela Lansbury and Phylicia Rashad. She also co-stars in B.E.T. and Artisan Entertainment’s upcoming film Book of Love, with Richard T. Jones and Robin Givens. Henson starred in the Aaron Spelling Production Satan’s School For Girls, with Shannen Doherty, Kate Jackson and Julie Benz. On series television, she has appeared in co-starring roles on “ER,” “Felicity,” “Strong Medicine,” and the WB’s “The Parent ’Hood,” “Sister, Sister” and “Smart Guy.”

The sexy but sweet Howard University grad resides in Los Angeles, California and enjoys candlemaking, reading poetry and dancing to a variety of music genres. Henson also has a strong passion for helping disabled and poverty-stricken children.

snoopdogg (Rodney) whose birth name is Calvin Broadus, acquired his nickname because of his resemblance to the popular Peanuts character Snoopy the Dog.

As a child, Snoop spent his free time rapping with a friend, Warren Griffin, who would later find fame as rapper Warren G. Although he was a good student and a highly recruited athlete, Snoop fell in with the L.A. Crips gang and started selling drugs. This landed him in prison, where, according to Snoop, fellow inmates told him to get his life together because he had talent.

Taking their advice, he embarked upon a musical career that saw him become the embodiment of '90s gangsta rap. Snoop Doggy Dogg blurred the lines between reality and fiction. The American public became aware of him when he traded verses with Dr. Dre on Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic.” Snoop Dogg quickly became the most famous star in rap, partially because of his drawled, laconic rhyming and partially because the violence that his lyrics implied seemed real. An arrest only strengthened his myth, and it helped his debut album, 1993's “Doggystyle,” become the first debut album to enter the charts at No. 1.

After several successful albums, Snoop turned his attention to the silver screen. He has had minor roles in the films Half Baked and Ride. To date, his most notable role has come in the film Bones, alongside Pam Grier. He portrayed a gangster who's been dead more than 20 years who returns to the hood seeking revenge.

Newcomer tamara laseon bass (Peanut) attended Loyola Marymount University where she pursued degrees in both theatre and screenwriting, while simultaneously starting her professional career. She did several plays and commercials before landing her first starring role in the independent film Bellyfruit, directed by Kerri Green. Inspired by real-life stories of teen mothers living in urban Los Angeles, the film is a strikingly unsentimental and powerful trilogy about three pregnant teenage girls and the irony of their still childlike innocence amidst painfully adult realities. The film was met with glowing reviews when it premiered at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.

Upon her college graduation, Bass landed a recurring role as Mykelti Williamson’s daughter on the CBS series “The Fugitive.” Her other television credits include “Any Day Now,” “Sliders” and “Moesha.”

Raised in Syracuse, New York, Bass began acting at the age of 11 when she started attending an art-intensive school. At the age of 13, she began competing in the NAACP ACT-SO Program, which allows high school students to compete in several different categories in arts and/or sciences, and was a National Finalist by her senior year.

Currently residing in Los Angeles, Bass spends much of her time writing, traveling and working with children.

At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards people were shocked when ving rhames (Melvin) bestowed his newly won trophy to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon. Those who really knew Rhames were not surprised at all. Rhames has an imposing physical presence, but he is remarkably sensitive and kind—your typical "friendly giant." Despite this, he was able to pull off villainous turns in Pulp Fiction and Con Air with aplomb.

Two years after graduating from the renowned Julliard School of Drama, he made his Broadway debut opposite Matt Dillon in “The Winter Boys,” after which he worked on a variety of off-Broadway productions. He also worked in television, with recurring roles on the daytime soaps “Another World” and “Guiding Light” and guest appearances on shows like “Miami Vice.”

In the early 1990s, Rhames garnered roles in films like Casualties of War, Jacob's Ladder and Mission: Impossible,which helped to increase his profile. It wasn’t until 1994 that Ving Rhames would explode onto the Hollywood scene after the release of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which launched his career.

Since then, Rhames has done Striptease with Demi Moore, Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta- Jones, and Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise.

Rhames also won a ShoWest Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead.

Singleton and Rhames are not strangers, as they worked together on Rosewood, another of Singleton’s films. The film was a historically inspired drama about a race riot in the south in the early 1920s. Rhames stars as Mann, a drifter who helps the surviving African-Americans escape the town, with the help of a humble storeowner played by Jon Voight.

about the filmmakers

            Producer, director and screenwriter john singleton most recently wrote, produced and directed Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson. Before that, he directed Rosewood, starring Jon Voight and Ving Rhames. Prior to that he wrote, produced and directed Higher Learning, starring Omar Epps and Laurence Fishburne, and wrote produced and directed Poetic Justice, starring Janet Jackson.

While Singleton was attending the Filmic Writing Program at USC he won three writing awards from the university, which lead to a contract with Creative Artists Agency during his sophomore year. He was also a recipient of the John Nicholson Award in 1989 and 1990 and the Robert Riskin Award in 1989.

Singleton exploded onto the scene with his first film, Boyz N the Hood (1991), a tough, intelligent, plain-speaking look at friends in gang-ridden South Central L. A. that earned him Oscar® nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, becoming the first African-American (and the youngest filmmaker ever) to do so. Singleton has won numerous awards such as the LAFCA New Generation Award in 1991, the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker in 1992, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best New Director (Boyz N the Hood) in 1991 and finally, the ShoWest Award for Screenwriter of the Year and the Special Award for Directorial Debut of the Year in 1992.

Executive producer dwight williams has worked on over 90 feature films and TV movies on three continents in his 32 years in the motion picture industry. Williams is a graduate of Temple University’s Annenberg School of Communication and was one of the first African-American graduates of the prestigious Directors Guild of America Producers Training program in 1971. While working in capacities from assistant director to production manager to producer, he has stayed close to the creative process on movie sets all over the world as he pursued his passion for filmmaking. Dwight has had the opportunity to work and learn from some of America’s most distinguished directors, actors, writers and producers on some classic films.

            Dwight Williams’ breadth of experience in production is extensive, ranging from multi-million dollar, full-union, major studio productions with 90-day shooting schedules to $150,000 independent industrial films shot in six days. This diverse production experience has enabled him to focus on the solving of the creative dilemmas of any project he works on while remaining within the financial constraints of the film’s budget.

            Dwight credits the time he spent in the South, where he conducted voter registration and civil rights drives for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi, Georgia and Arkansas, with providing the pivotal point in his decision to try and reach people through films.

            Dwight’s concentration as a painter and fine artist throughout his formative early school years, followed by his later practice of and passion for photography as a young man, have equipped him with an ability to achieve a distinctive visual style and signature to his filmmaking.

            Dwight considers film to be “the high art form of the 21^st century.” He believes that, “If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the right picture is worth a million.”

Director of photography charles e. mills most recently completed filming “Just a Dream,” Danny Glover’s directorial debut for Showtime. His feature credits include Body Count, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Boyz N the Hood and Secret Agent OO Soul. His television credits include the series "City of Angels," "In the Heat of the Night," and the pilot "Trials of Life." His television movie credits include "Jackie's Back!," "Eve of the Stalker" and "Lily in Winter." 

Production designer keith brian burns most recently completed Liberty Stand Still with Wesley Snipes and Linda Fiorentino. Prior to that, he worked on the features Black & White, B.A.P.S., Slowly This, Higher Learning and Poetic Justice. His television credits include "Always Outnumbered," "Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story," "Tuesday Morning Ride" and "Better Off Dead." Burns is currently working on the feature Stark Raving Mad.

Editor bruce cannon most recently worked on One Night at McCool ’s, Sunset Strip and Paulie. He previously worked with John Singleton on Rosewood, Higher Learning, Poetic Justice and Boyz N The Hood. His other film credits include Carried Away, The Heart of Justice, Crazy People, The End of Innocence, Dead Man Out, Time Out, One Fine Night, The Wind and Rose and Katz.

            ruth carter, costume designer, resides in Los Angeles. She has received two Academy Award® nominations, for Spike Lee's Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett, which gained worldwide recognition for historical design and re-creation, and Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg.

            Other historic films include Ron Shelton's Cobb, the Story of Ty Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Wuhl; John Singleton's Rosewood, starring Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle; and What’s Love Got To Do With It, starring Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishburne.

            Carter is a native of Springfield, Massachusetts and holds a BA degree from Hampton University where she studied costume design. Her theater (Stage West) and opera (Santa Fe Opera) training led her to Los Angeles, where she continued working in theater productions.

            It was her theater work with choreographer Otis Sallid that led Carter toward an introduction to the then unknown Spike Lee, who encouraged her to seek out more experiences in film. Subsequently, Ruth professionally costume designed seven of Lee's next pictures: School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Mo'Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Clockers and Malcolm X. She also designed costumes for Lee’s Summer of Sam and Bamboozled.

            Ruth’s other credits include I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, The Five Heartbeats, Meteor Man, Denial, Surviving the Game, House Party 2, Jason's Lyric, Money Train, The Great White Hype and Juwanna Mann.

            Ruth teamed up with Angela Bassett for a a third time inHow Stella Got Her Groove Back, also starring Whoopi Goldberg, and she received critical acclaim for designing What's Love Got to Do With it,the life story of Tina Turner.

            Most recently, Ruth's costumes were seen in Down in the Delta, directed by famed author and poetess Maya Angelou, Price of Glory, starring Jimmy Smits, Love & Basketball, starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan, and Dr. Dolittle 2, starring Eddie Murphy.

Baby Boy marksRuth's third collaboration with John Singleton and her fifth collaboration with Samuel L. Jackson.

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6/27/01