Ava DuVernay, born August 24, 1972, born in Long Beach California. DuVernay was instilled with the desire to explore her love of art by DuVernay's aunt Denise at the age of a small child. Her aunt was a registered nurse who was a night shift worker so that she could dedicate her time to writing, reading theatre, and various other pursuits. The aunt introduced DuVernay the 1961 movie West Side Story and DuVernay fell in love with it. DuVernay was trained by her mother to understand that art could serve as a tool for activism. DuVernay was raised by parents who were socially aware and showed her how to utilize the arts to find a way to express her feelings. Although DuVernay spent her childhood in Compton with her parents, she lived at Lowndes County Alabama where her father's family grew up for generations. The father of DuVernay's remembered watching the historic Civil Rights protest through the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in the nearby town of Selma Alabama. DuVernay would mak