Tarell Alvin McCraney

Tarell Alvin McCraney came from dire circumstances as a child to become one of the most lauded playwrights in the world, and an Oscar-winning screenwriter. Born on October 17, 1980, in Miami, FL, McCraney grew up in Miami's rough and tumble Liberty City projects. Growing up gay, and with a single mother addicted to crack cocaine, McCraney sought solace in the arts. He attended Miami's New World School of the Arts as a teen, and was awarded both the Exemplary Artist award and the Dean's Award in Theater. McCraney continued to study acting at the Theatre School at DePaul University, where he received a BFA in acting. At Yale University, McCraney got a degree in playwriting, graduating in 2007. He was very active as an actor in Chicago's theatre scene, performing at the Steppenwolf theater and the Northlight theater. McCraney's most acclaimed work as a playwright, the "Brother/Sister" trilogy of plays, were performed all over the world, most notably at the Young Vic theatre in London. In 2013, McCraney was awarded the MacArthur Genius grant. Around this time, he was introduced through mutual friends to the filmmaker Barry Jenkins, who had also grown up in Liberty City with a single mother who was addicted to drugs. Jenkins was looking for material for a film, and McCraney gave him an unproduced, loosely autobiographical play he wrote as part of his admission packet for Yale, entitled "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue." The film, eventually retitled "Moonlight," was released in late 2016 to nearly universal critical acclaim, ranked number one on many best films of the year list, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. McCraney and Jenkins won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, and in a stunning upset, "Moonlight" won Best Picture over the heavily favored "La La Land" (but not before presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway infamously opened the wrong envelope live on TV and falsely declared the latter film to be the winner; the stunning error was quickly corrected). McCraney capped off his incredible year by being named the chair of playwriting at his alma matter, Yale School of Drama, a position he will hold as of July 1, 2017.