Barry Jenkins was born on November 19, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Moonlight (2016), Medicine for Melancholy (2008) and My Josephine (2003).

Favorite part of the filmmaking process is hands-on production which is where his real creative energy emerges. Counts Oscar-winning film editor Walter Murch 's "In the Blink of an Eye" as his favorite textbook in film school. Attended film school with cinematographer James Laxton , director of photography on almost all of Barry's film projects. When he first got into film, his passion was for French and Asian New Wave cinema. He would always head straight for the Foreign Films section of his local Blockbuster and devour all he could afford. After he espied a photo of Quentin Tarantino on the VHS jacket for Chungking Express (1994) his curiosity was immediately piqued, and once he saw that movie he knew that he had to become a filmmaker. Does not storyboard, opting instead for straightforward shot lists.