Anthony Onah

Background

Onah grew up in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, District of Columbia

Education

Onah grew up in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, District of Columbia after having lived in the Philippines, United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Togo, moving around with his ambassador father. He attended Harvard University and earned an undergraduate degree in biochemical sciences, receiving the Pechet Foundation grant given to junior biochemistry majors and the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work.

Accepted at Cambridge University for graduate school, Onah turned down admission, instead working as a scientist during which time he was published in The Journal of Neuroscience, and subsequently chose to attend the Master of Fine Arts program in film directing at the University of California, Los Angeles where he was admitted with a university fellowship. He has also received the Hollywood Foreign Press Award and the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fellowship.

In 2011, Onah was selected as a directing fellow by Film Independent, and in 2012 as a directing talent at the Berlin Talent Campus.

Career

In the Summer of 2015, he was named to Filmmaker Magazine"s list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He has also been named to Indiewire"s list of 10 Exciting New Voices.

Achievements

• He attended Harvard University and earned an undergraduate degree in biochemical sciences, receiving the Pechet Foundation grant given to junior biochemistry majors and the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work. He has also received the Hollywood Foreign Press Award and the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fellowship. Onah’s films include The Cure, which was recognized by mtvU, won a 2008 Directors Guild of America Award, and was featured in The Los Angeles Times. Onah subsequently completed A History of Violence with renowned cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker and Dara Ju, which won him a second student Directors Guild of America Award in 2012. With Dara Ju, Onah also won the first Afrinolly Short Film Competition.