Cheryl Dunye a native of Liberia, received her BA from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Dunye has received numerous national and international honors for her work in the media arts. Her third feature film, Miramax’s, MY BABY’S DADDY, was a box office success and played at theaters nation wide. Dunye’s second feature, the acclaimed HBO Films, STRANGER INSIDE, garnered Dunye an Independent Spirit award nomination for best director in 2002. Dunye wrote, directed and starred in her first film which was the first African American lesbian feature film, THE WATERMELON WOMAN. It was awarded the Teddy Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and best feature in L.A.’s OutFest, Italy’s Torino, and France’s Creteil Film Festivals. Dunye’s other works have been included in the have been included in the Whitney Biennial and screened at festivals in New York, London, Tokyo, Cape Town, Amsterdam and Sydney.

In addition Dunye has received grants from the Astraea Foundation and Frameline; a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts; a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation; graced with the prestigious Anonymous was a Woman Award, as well as a 2004 Community Vision Award from National Center for Lesbian Rights and a 2004 Creative Excellence Award by Women in Film and Television. Dunye has received grants from the Astraea Foundation and Frameline; a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts; a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation; and graced with the prestigious Anonymous was a Woman Award as well as a lifetime achievement award from Girlfriend’s Magazine. Dunye is based in Los Angeles and is at work on a new feature film, Adventures in the 419, with Duly Noted, Inc..