The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political hip hop band aligned to radical music groups such as Crass, Dead Prez and Rage Against the Machine.
Patton Peter Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013–2023) as adult Adam F. Goldberg. After making his acting debut in the Seinfeld episode "The Couch", he has appeared in a variety of television series, such as Parks and Recreation, Community, Two and a Half Men, Drunk History, Reno 911!, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Archer, Veep, Justified, Kim Possible, Modern Family, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and We Bare Bears. He portrayed Principal Ralph Durbin in A.P. Bio (2018–2021) and Matthew the Raven in the TV series The Sandman (2022–present).
Tessa Lynne Thompson is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College, appearing in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Following her role in Veronica Mars (2005–2006), her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned (2009) and Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010).
Raymond Lawrence "Boots" Riley is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He made his feature-film directorial debut with Sorry to Bother You, which he also wrote. In 2023, the television show I'm a Virgo premiered, which Riley wrote and directed.
Omari Latif Hardwick is an American actor known for his starring role as James St. Patrick / Ghost, the protagonist of Starz's Power and his role as Vanderohe in Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead (2021). He is also known for his roles in Saved and Dark Blue, in Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna (2008), Kick-Ass (2010), Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls (2010) and as Andre in BET Network's Being Mary Jane.
Xosha Kai Roquemore is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Jo Ann in Precious and Tamra in The Mindy Project.
Yeun Sang-Yeop, known professionally as Steven Yeun, is an American actor. Yeun initially rose to prominence for playing Glenn Rhee in the television series The Walking Dead (2010–2016). He earned critical acclaim for starring in the thriller Burning (2018) and the drama Minari (2020). The latter earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the first Asian American actor to be nominated. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021. In 2023, he starred in the dark comedy series Beef (2023), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Ryan Kyle Coogler is an American filmmaker. He is a recipient of four NAACP Image Awards and four Black Reel Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Grammy Award.
Short Term 12 is a 2013 American independent drama film written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It is adapted from Cretton's short film of the same name, produced in 2009. The film stars Brie Larson as Grace Howard, a young supervisor of a group home for troubled teenagers. The film was the first leading performance of Larson's career.
Crown Heights is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Matt Ruskin. Adapted from a This American Life podcast, the film tells the true story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and how his best friend Carl King devoted his life to proving Colin's innocence. The film stars Lakeith Stanfield as Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King.
Come Sunday is a 2018 American drama film directed by Joshua Marston and written by Marcus Hinchey, based on "Heretics", a 2005 episode of the radio show This American Life. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Carlton Pearson, an evangelist minister who was ostracized by his church and excommunicated for preaching that there is no Hell. Jason Segel, Condola Rashad, Lakeith Stanfield, Stacey Sargeant, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Danny Glover, and Martin Sheen also star.
Sorry to Bother You is a 2018 American science fiction black comedy film written and directed by musician Boots Riley in his directorial debut. It stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, and Armie Hammer. The film follows a young African-American telemarketer who adopts a "white voice" to succeed at his job, after which he is swept into a corporate conspiracy and must choose between chasing profit or joining his activist friends who are attempting to unionize.
The Photograph is a 2020 American romantic drama film written and directed by Stella Meghie. It follows the estranged daughter of a famous photographer who falls in love with the journalist who is investigating her late mother's life. Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery and Courtney B. Vance also star.
Judas and the Black Messiah is a 2021 American biographical crime drama film directed and produced by Shaka King, who wrote the screenplay with Will Berson, based on a story by the pair and Kenny and Keith Lucas. The film is about the betrayal of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late-1960s Chicago, by William O'Neal, an FBI informant. Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Algee Smith, Dominique Thorne, and Martin Sheen also star.
The Harder They Fall is a 2021 American Western film directed by Jeymes Samuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin. The film stars Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, and Deon Cole. It is one of few Westerns whose principal cast members are all Black. Its characters are based on real cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws of the nineteenth-century American West.
Yasuke is a Japanese-American original net animation (ONA) series loosely based on the historical figure of the same name, an African warrior who served under Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period of samurai conflict in 16th century Japan. Created by LeSean Thomas and animated by Japanese animation studio MAPPA, the series stars Lakeith Stanfield as the titular character. The series was released on Netflix on April 29, 2021.
Haunted Mansion is a 2023 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. It stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback, it is the second film adaptation of Walt Disney's eponymous theme park attraction, following the 2003 version. In the film, a single mother and her son enlist the aid of an astrophysicist turned tour guide (Stanfield), a struggling psychic (Haddish), a conman posing as a priest (Wilson) and a college historian (DeVito) to help exorcise the ghostly inhabitants of the titular building that they have recently moved into.
Foe is a 2023 science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Australian director Garth Davis, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Canadian writer Iain Reid, based on Reid's 2018 novel of the same name. It’s an Australian-U.S. co-production filmed in Australia. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre, it concerns a young couple, Hen and Junior, having marital issues when Junior is called to serve on a space station.
Benjamin Safdie is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and film editor best known for working with his older brother Josh as a filmmaker. His directorial works include Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019). Transitioning towards acting, Safdie was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his role in Good Time and has since taken on roles in films such as Licorice Pizza (2021), Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Oppenheimer. He co-created, co-wrote and starred in the television show The Curse (2023).
The Changeling is an American horror fantasy television series created by Kelly Marcel and directed by Melina Matsoukas based on the novel of the same name by Victor LaValle for Apple TV+. It premiered on September 8, 2023, with the first three episodes.
