Samantha Bailey (born 1989) is an American writer, producer, director, and actress. She is known for the web series ''You're So Talented'' and '' Brown Girls''.

Career

Bailey was born and raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois in the

Logan Square Logan Square may refer to: * Logan Square, Chicago, a neighborhood on the north side of the city * Logan Circle (Philadelphia) or Logan Square, a park in Philadelphia **Logan Square, Philadelphia Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bou ...

neighborhood. She began stage acting as a teenager and received her bachelor's degree from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

. After graduation, Bailey began acting professionally in the city's theatre community. She was frustrated by the quality of roles she was cast in and used that frustration to inform writing a sketch that would become ''You're So Talented''. She rose to prominence for the self-produced web series, a semi-autobiographical story about a struggling 25-year-old actress in Chicago. It was her first time directing and writing. ''You're So Talented'' was nominated for a

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

in 2015. In 2017 she co-produced the web series '' Brown Girls'' with poet Fatimah Asghar, which starred two young women coming to terms with queer identity, and navigating career and relationships. The series received a nomination for a 2017

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. The category was initiated in 2016 alongside Outstanding Short Form Variety Series and Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Re ...

. Bailey and Asghar signed a deal to develop the series with

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. She co-produced the short documentary film ''Masculine/Masculine'' with Hank Jones at the 2018

LA Film Fest The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

. Bailey has directed episodes of the television series '' Alone Together'', '' First Wives Club'', ''East of La Brea'', ''

Grown-ish ''Grown-ish'' (stylized as ''ish'') is an American sitcom series and a spin-off of the ABC series ''Black-ish''. The single-camera comedy follows the Johnson family's children as they go to college and begin their journeys to adulthood, only to ...

'', ''

Loosely Exactly Nicole ''Loosely Exactly Nicole'' (stylized as ''*Loosely Exactly Nicole'') is an American comedy streaming television series created by Christian Lander and Christine Zander that stars Nicole Byer and premiered on September 5, 2016, on MTV. After MTV ca ...

'', and ''

Dear White People ''Dear White People'' is a 2014 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of ...

'', for which she was also a writer and producer. In April 2022, Bailey was selected to direct episodes of the superhero streaming series '' Ironheart'', set in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

Personal life

Bailey resides in Los Angeles.

Accolades

* 2018 –

The Root 100 ''The Root'' is an African American-oriented online magazine. It was launched on January 28, 2008, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald E. Graham. History It was owned by Graham Holdings Company through its online subsidiary, The Slate Group. ...

Honoree * 2018 – ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' 30 Under 30

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Sam (director) 1989 births Living people American women film directors 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American actresses African-American television producers African-American film directors Writers from Chicago American women screenwriters Columbia College Chicago alumni