Who Is Dee Rees? Screenwriter, Net Worth, 'Mudbound' & Facts To Know

Diandrea Rees popularly known as Dee Rees was born in 1977. She is an American screenwriter and director known for her feature films, 'Pariah' in 2011, 'Bessie' in 2015 and 'Mudbound' in 2017. Her movie 'Mudbound' was adapted from a 2008 novel by Hillary Jordan. The adapted film got Rees an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Rees has done some work for television as well . She has written and directed a few episodes for television series like 'Empire', 'When We Rise' and 'Electric Dreams'. Rees was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended local schools there and later attended college at Florida A&M University. Rees also attended the New York University's Tisch School of Arts as a film student. During her University years, Rees worked on a script that later became her feature film 'Pariah'. To do her graduate thesis, Rees adapted the first act of the script and directed it as a short film with the name 'Pariah'. This short was played at 40 film festivals around the world in 2007 winning her numerous accolades including the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Dee Rees' first feature film was a documentary, 'Eventual Salvation' in 2009. This movie was aired on the Sundance Channel. It was a documentary of her American-born, 80-year-old grandmother, Amma, who returns to Monrovia, Liberia in order to rebuild her home and community. Amma had managed to escape a decade earlier from the devastating Liberian civil war. Her film, 'Pariah' is described by her as semi-autobiographical. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Rees won the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Director and also earned the nomination for NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing. Lisa Schwartzman honored Rees by saying, "In her fearless, world-here-I-am! debut Pariah, writer-director Dee Rees demonstrates, with simplicity and verve, that there's no substitute for authenticity". Dee Rees' film, 'Bessie' premiered on HBO in 2015. The film starred Queen Latifah as the iconic singer Bessie Smith. The film received rave reviews by the critics. 'Bessie' also won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. Rees was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. Rees co-wrote 'Mudbound' along with Virgil Williams. 'Mudbound' was a period drama adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan. Rees also directed the film. The film was simultaneously released in theaters in November 2017 and on Netflix. Rees and Williams were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Mudbound, which made Rees the first black woman to be nominated for any Academy Award in a writing category, and the first black woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. As well, the nomination of Mary J. Blige for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Mudbound made Rees the first black woman to direct a film for which an actor or actress was nominated for an Academy Award. Dee Rees is a lesbian and has been in a relationship with poet and writer Sarah M. Broom since 2017.

Dee Rees net worth is $1.2 million.

Here are some interesting tidbits about the talented screenwriter: * Dee Rees is not her only name as the writer is known by several other names. Her legal name since birth is Diandria and at times, she uses her name Diandria Rees professionally too. So next time, you hear someone talking about Diandria you should know that it is the 'Mudbound' writer Dee Rees! * Her film 'Pariah' is semi-autobiographical Dee Rees has always been open about her sexual preference and almost everyone in the industry knows that she is a lesbian. Pariah is an art drama, written and directed by Dee Rees in which she talks about a 17-year-old African-American who embraces her identity as a lesbian. Adepero Oduye played the lead role in the movie and it also starred Kim Wayans and Aasha Davis. * Dee Rees refused to do Studio Films Dee Rees' personal preference is to continue working as an independent writer and director rather than getting involved with studio films. according to her, Pariah was a labor of love for the entire cast and crew. After that, Rees had been offered numerous projects by studios but she declined because she felt that if she agreed it would seem like a betrayal to all those she has worked with in the past. She also enjoys her independence and freedom and would not want to mar those virtues. Working this way gives her complete creative independence. * Dee Rees got the Best Writing Adapted Screenplay for her film, 'Mudbound' at the Oscar 2018. This Oscar 2018 nomination took her by complete surprise and will always be one of her prized possessions.

She can be found on Instagram @reesdee. She uploads her latest photos and updates on her Instagram page.