Kemp Powers


Kemp Powers is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his play One Night in Miami and the 2020 film adaptation of the same name, as well as for co-directing the animated films Soul and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. His screenplay for One Night in Miami... earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 93rd Academy Awards, while his work on Soul made him the first African-American to co-direct a Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar feature. Powers was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Career

After writing the 2012 short film This Day Today, he scripted the 2013 play One Night in Miami, which was adapted into a feature film directed by Regina King. In 2017, Powers was brought onboard to write several scripts for Star Trek: Discovery season one episodes. In 2018, he drafted his second play Little Black Shadows. In the same year, he co-wrote the script for Pixar's Soul, with Pete Docter and Mike Jones, as well as co-directing the film with Docter, making his directorial debut. An alumnus of Howard University, Powers is the first African-American co-director in Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar history. On December 16, 2020, Powers hosted the first three episodes of the podcast Soul Stories, which was released as a Spotify exclusive. In the episodes, Powers interviewed several people who worked on the film mainly about their mentors and careers, as well as some behind-the-scenes stories behind the making of the film.
In 2021, he appeared in the podcast Spark & Fire, prior to writing his third play Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue. In the same year, he signed on to direct Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and its sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse with Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin K. Thompson. In March 2023, Powers premiered his fourth play The XIXth , which chronicles the lives of two Black American sprinters who raised their fists in protest during the 1968 Summer Olympics games. In Fall 2024, he was the John H. Mitchell Visiting Professor in Media Entertainment at the University of Michigan. In November 2024, he set his live action filmmaking debut when he signed on to write and direct the crime film Lunik Heist for Searchlight Pictures. In December 2024, it was reported that he would not be returning to direct Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Filmography

Plays

  • One Night in Miami
  • Little Black Shadows
  • Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue
  • ''The XIXth ''

    Accolades