LEE DANIELS born on this date, is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster’s Ball, for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film. He made his directorial debut with Shadowboxer in 2005 and has since then directed the films Precious, The Paperboy, which he co-wrote), The Butler and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Of these, Precious was the most critically acclaimed, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels, for Best Director and Best Picture. Other films he has produced include The Woodsman, Tennessee, Pimp, and Concrete Cowboy.

Daniels has co-created and co-executive produced the TV series Empire, and Star, both set in the music industry.

In 2010, Grace Hightower De Niro, who appeared in Precious, presented Daniels with the Pratt Institute’s Creative Spirit Award. In 2015, Daniels was listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate’s Person of the Year.

In December 2016, Daniels received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.  amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) paid tribute to Daniels at the 20th annual amfAR Gala New York. Actress and musician Queen Latifah presented him the amfAR Award of Courage, describing his past work with HIV/AIDS patients. She also stated that as a gifted creative force, he creates “unfailingly human” characters, who are “often striving to rise above difficult circumstances”. In his acceptance speech, he spoke about a generation lost to AIDS and said that the crisis had taken at least 40 of his personal friends. In the fight against AIDS, he said it is important to “step up when it matters”.

Daniels lives in Manhattan. He is out gay. He and his then-partner, casting director Billy Hopkins, adopted Daniels’s biological niece and nephew, Clara and Liam. Hopkins and Daniels later separated.

In 2015, Daniels clarified his sexuality by stating that despite being gay men, both he and Empire actor Jussie Smollett are sexually fluid.