Filmmaker and television producer Lee Daniels will receive the 2,595th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday, honoring a career that has included a best director Oscar nomination and co-creating Fox’s hit hip-hop drama “Empire.”
Gabourey Sidibe, who Daniels directed to a best supporting actress Oscar in the 2009 film drama “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire,” will join Daniels in speaking in the 11:30 a.m. ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Hudson Apartments.
The ceremony comes 12 days before the premiere of the latest series Daniels co-created, “Star,” about three young women in a musical group in Atlanta.
Daniels was born in Philadelphia in 1959 and began his career in the entertainment industry as a casting director and talent manager after running a nursing agency.
Daniels later founded a production company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, which made its feature film debut with the 2001 release “Monster’s Ball,” which brought Halle Berry a best actress Oscar.
Daniels made his directing debut with the 2005 crime thriller “Shadowboxer,” which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Miren as contract killers and lovers.
Daniels received a best director Oscar nomination in 2010 for “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.” He also wrote, directed and produced the 2012 film drama “The Paperboy.”
Daniels’ most recent film “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” about a black butler (Forest Whitaker) who served at the White House from 1957 to 1986, held the No. 1 box office spot for three consecutive weeks.
