Nneka Onuorah

Nneka Onuorah (born 1988)[1] is an American director and producer. She is best known for her directorial debut, The Same Difference (2015), about gender roles in the Black lesbian community.[2][3]

Early life and education

Onuorah was born in Queens, New York and raised in the LeFrak City neighborhood.[4] Her father is Nigerian and her mother is African-American.[5][6] She moved to Atlanta to live with her grandmother in fifth grade and moved back to Queens for high school. She studied dance at Broadway Dance Center,[7] and later received her associate degree in psychology from LaGuardia Community College.[8]

Career

Onuorah took an internship at BET in 2009 and was later hired as a producer.[3] She worked on Black Girls Rock! and various music documentaries.[5] After six years, Onuorah left the network to work on her first film, The Same Difference.[3] Her stated inspiration to produce the documentary was the dearth of representations of Black LGBTQIA people in mainstream media.[5][3]

Onuorah launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund The Same Difference, a documentary about strict behavioral roles for studs and femmes in Black lesbian communities.[4][6] She has spoken about experiencing backlash from other lesbians when she chose to dress feminine rather than her usual masculine of center presentation.[6] Onuorah failed to reach her fundraising goal and instead independently financed the film.[4][7] The Same Difference premiered in June 2015.[4]

She directed the Netflix series First and Last and produced My House, a Viceland series about New York's Black and Latinx ballroom community.[4][9] She attended balls during adolescence and walked in the Butch category.[9]

In 2019, she announced a project co-directed and co-produced with Giselle Bailey about Nigerian LGBTQ people who have left the country seeking asylum due to anti-LGBTQ laws.[5] That year they also released a documentary called Burn Down The House about Parisian dancer Kiddy Smile, which premiered at NewFest LGTBQ Film Festival.[2]

In 2022 she directed the eight episode series Watch Out for the Big Grrrls for Amazon Prime. The show, hosted and created by Lizzo features plus size dancers competing to join Lizzo's touring dance group the Big Grrrls. The show focuses on support, positivity, and development of the dancers inner strength and potential as well as mastering choreography quickly.[10]

Personal life

Onuorah is a lesbian.[4] She began to identify as a lesbian at age 14.[7] She was raised Christian.[6]

References
  1. Finn, Robin (2011-05-18). "Dancer at Heart, and Executive in the Making". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  2. Ramos, Dino-Ray (2019-09-19). "NewFest: LGBTQ Film Festival Unveils Lineup Including Docu 'All We've Got', 'Drag Kids' and 'The True Adventures Of Wolfboy'". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. Compton, Julie. "OutFront: Filmmaker on a Mission to 'Make the Invisible Visible'". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  4. Clark, Michell C. (June 10, 2019). "Filmmaker Nneka Onuorah Wants The LGBTQ+ Community "To Walk In Freedom, Not Survival"". MTV News. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  5. Bowen, Sesali. "Meet The Two Black Women Capturing Global Queer Stories". Nylon. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  6. Marty, Robin (2016-06-21). "The Stereotypes Lesbians Must Fight Against". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  7. "Filmmaker Nneka Onuorah On Her Passion For TV And Film". AZ Magazine. 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  8. "LaGuardia Graduate Climbs Black Entertainment Television Network Ranks". City University of New York. June 20, 2014. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  9. Barksdale, Aaron (2019-07-03). "'my house' shows voguing is much more than madonna and 'drag race'". i-D. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  10. Connellan, Shannon (2022-03-29). "Lizzo's reality TV show is 100% good as hell". Mashable. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
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