He was supposed to be a plumber. Instead, he became the first black person to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
Steve McQueen (born 9 October 1969) grew up in West London. In elementary school, he was placed in a remedial program designed to usher students into manual labor careers. He was dyslexic but the racism of the system just saw him as a dumb black kid and pushed him into the remedial track.
McQueen escaped the confines institutional racism tried to place on him to go on to study at Goldsmiths College in London and the Tisch School at New York University.
In 1993, McQueen released his first major short film, Bear, a black and white film shot on 16mm. He has retained his enthusiasm for the emotions and raw feel of experimental film, but has, in many ways, outgrown the arthouse. The reason you might know Steve McQueen (other than sharing a famous name with another famous dude) is his most recent film, 12 Years a Slave.
Before 12 Years a Slave, McQueen won awards at Cannes, Los Angeles Film Critics Associate awards, BAFTA, and others. His list of awards and nominations has its own Wikipedia page. One award stands out above the rest, though; in 2013, 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture at the Oscars, becoming the first Best Picture to have a black director.
TL;DR
- Steve McQueen was shuffled into a remedial program in elementary school.
- He went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture by a black director.
What You Should Do Now:
- Watch 12 Years a Slave.
- Watch another film by a black director this week.
28 Days of Inspirational Black People:
- Ed Brooke
- Blanche Bruce
- Andrew Young
- Denys Cowan
- Antoine Fuqua
- John Singleton
- Countee Cullen
- Dennis Kimetto
- Robert Hayden
- Lee Daniels
- Anthony Mackie/Falcon
- Val James
- Abebe Bikila
Photo– Flickr/ Cornerhouse