About

B.J. Winfrey is a native Atlanta filmmaker, screenwriter, author, professional actor, and director whose creative work has spanned theater, television, independent film, international cinema, and publishing.

He attended The Westminster Schools through A Better Chance and later earned bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Theater/Film Studies from Emory University. At Emory, he founded and served as Artistic Director of AHANA Theater and co-founded the AHANA Artists Collective.

Winfrey began acting professionally in Atlanta in 2007 after initially returning to professional acting classes largely to strengthen his ability to direct actors. His first television role was portraying the ghost of George Washington Carver on Alton Brown's Good Eats.

His filmmaking career later intersected with African cinema. He appeared in Paparazzi: The Eye in the Dark and wrote the internationally exhibited feature One Night in Vegas. He is a two-time recipient of Nollywood and African Film Critics Awards recognition and became the first American filmmaker to win the NAFCA Award for Best Short Film for Five.

He is also the author of The Final Lesson and Beware the Icestorm, and is writing Anthem, the concluding volume of the Everybody Wants to Rule the World trilogy. He is currently developing BLUE, his first feature film as director.

“For Winfrey, these disciplines are not separate careers. They are different tools for doing the same thing: telling stories.”