Nate Parker: Black Filmmaking, Faith in Hollywood, and The Birth of a Nation

Join Nate Parker, beloved actor and director of The Birth of a Nation fame, as he gets real with All That to Say about navigating his faith in Hollywood, the art of breaking down walls, and his record-breaking film The Birth of a Nation. 

He recounts his origin story in a Norfolk, Virginia, housing project, his “escape” to college, and his awakening to the experience of being a Black man in America. He recalls how a phone conversation with his mother shifted the course of his life from pursuing a degree in computer science to moving to Los Angeles on a dream and a literal prayer: Los Angeles, where he found his way to Bishop Dixon’s Center of Hope, where he filmed his first national TV commercial, and where he got his breakout role with Denzel Washington and Forrest Whitaker on The Great Debaters. 

Nate also talks in-depth about the birth of The Birth of a Nation—the film he wrote, directed, and starred in, which recounts the real-life story of the enslaved African American preacher who organized and led the Nat Turner Rebellion of 1831. Hear why studying for that role was the closest to God he’s ever felt in his life and why he calls the film “the hallmark of [his] existence.” 

Nate Parker is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Parker’s directorial debut feature film The Birth of a Nation made history at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival when Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the distribution rights for a record-breaking price tag. In 2016 he also founded the Nate Parker Foundation and The Nate Parker School of Film and Drama at Wiley College, both dedicated to empowering young Black filmmakers to develop and produce meaningful stories that shape culture.