Jamal Joseph
Jamal Joseph is a writer, director, producer, educator and activist. His film and television writer/director credits include Chapter & Verse (theatrical and BET, produced by Jonathan Sanger) which won the Pan African Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, Drive By and Da Zone for STARZ in BLACK, Hard Chorus and Hip Hop in the Promised Land for Comedy Central, and Hughes Dream Harlem for PBS. Additional screenplay credits include Knights of the South Bronx for A&E and Ali: An American Hero for FOX. Joseph is an executive producer and is featured in the FX Docuseries Dear Mama about the life and legacy of Tupac and Afeni Shakur. Joseph is featured in the PBS documentary Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Showtime’s NYC Point Gods and the EPIX docuseries By Whatever Means Necessary. He is developing a feature film based on his critically-acclaimed memoir Panther Baby.
Joseph’s awards include an NAACP leadership award, Black Filmmakers' Hall of Fame Award, Paul Robeson Award from Actor's Equity Association, AUDELCO Leadership Award, Sundance Directing Fellowship and being named to the TIME Magazine’s 2026 Closers List. He is a three-time winner of the National Black Program Consortium Prized Pieces Award, a Cine Golden Eagle, an Encore Purpose Prize, an International Documentary Association Award and a Film Independent Spirit Award. He has been nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy.
Professor of Professional Practice Jamal Joseph is set to produce an upcoming biopic of Afeni Shakur, a prominent member of the Black Panther party, and late mother of legendary rapper Tupac.
Starz is developing Professor Jamal Joseph’s memoir, Panther Baby, into a drama.
Professor and Head of the Screenwriting Concentration Jamal Joseph is featured as an interviewee in the BBC documentary series Can't Get You Out of My Head in the episode titled “Shooting and F**king are the Same Thing.
As we observe Black History Month, Columbia News looks back at Black Columbians who made history through their activism.
Professor Jamal Joseph serves as an executive producer on Dear Mama, a new docuseries from FX.