Julius Onah
Julius Onah is a Nigerian-American filmmaker, actor and screenwriter known for Luce (2019), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) and Don’t Look Back (2008).
Julius Onah was raised in the Philippines, Nigeria, Togo and the United Kingdom before moving to Arlington County, Virginia.
The filmmaker graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He went ahead to complete an M.F.A. from the graduate film program at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University where he was selected as a Dean’s Fellow. He also received the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship.
While at the New York University’s graduate film program, he completed his first feature film “The Girl Is in Trouble” (2015) as his thesis, with executive producer Spike Lee, Alicja Bachleda, Wilmer Valderrama, Columbus Short, and Jesse Spencer. He was previously set to direct the thriller film adaptation Brilliance, for Legendary Pictures which David Koepp scripted with Will Smith and Noomi Rapace to star as leads.
The filmmaker completed The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) with producer J. J. Abrams. The film received positive reviews from fans. His latest film, Luce featuring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and Kelvin Harrison Jr., premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
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Julius Onah’s work has been screened at popular festivals around the world including Berlin, Tribeca, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, Sundance, Melbourne and Camerimage.
The film director has received several nominations, awards, and recognitions. He received the Chlotrudis Award (2020) for Best Adapted Screenplay (Luce 2019), San Diego Film Critics Society Award (SDFCS Award 2019) also for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Nokia Mobile Movie Award (2008). In 2010, he was selected as one of Filmmaker magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, one of Studio System’s 10 Up and Up Feature Directors in 2013, and Forbes Magazine’s 13 African Celebrities To Watch.
There’s more about his work on www.opencontinents.com