Julius Onah

Julius Onah (born February 10, 1983) is a Nigerian-American filmmaker. He has directed the films The Girl Is in Trouble, The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), Luce (2019), and Captain America: Brave New World (2025).

Early life Onah was born in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. His father, Adoga Onah, was a Nigerian diplomat. He was raised in the Philippines, Nigeria, Togo, and the United Kingdom before moving to Arlington County, Virginia. Onah graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington and received his B.A. in theater from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He completed an M.F.A. from the graduate film program at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he was selected as a Dean's Fellow.

Career Onah's work has been screened at festivals around the world including Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Camerimage. In the summer of 2010, he was selected as one of Filmmaker magazine's New Faces of Independent Film. In 2013, he was selected as one of Studio System's 10 Up and Up Feature Directors and Forbes magazine's 13 African Celebrities To Watch. While at NYU's graduate film program he completed his first feature as his thesis, The Girl Is in Trouble (2015) with executive producer Spike Lee, featuring Alicja Bachleda, Wilmer Valderrama, Columbus Short, and Jesse Spencer. Onah was previously set to direct the thriller film adaptation Brilliance for Legendary Pictures which David Koepp scripted with Will Smith and Noomi Rapace to star as leads. He then directed The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) with producer J. J. Abrams. His film, Luce, featuring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and Kelvin Harrison Jr., premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. He and J.C. Lee wrote the screenplay of the thriller film Bad Genius, a remake of the 2017 Thai film of the same name. He then directed Captain America: Brave New World, the fourth Captain America film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Anthony Mackie starring in the title role.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Director Writer Producer 2015 The Girl Is in Trouble 2018 The Cloverfield Paradox 2019 Luce 2024 Bad Genius 2025 Captain America: Brave New World TBA Samo Lives

Open Continents

Open Continents is a global media project comprising Onah's short, feature, music video and television work.

Continent Title Country Subject Year EUROPE SZMOLINSKY (Berlin Film Festival, SXSW Click, Melbourne Film Festival) Germany Euro Tales 2008 NIE PATRZ WSTECZ (London Film Festival, Camerimage Grand Jury Award) Poland 2008 DRIK NU AGNES Denmark 2011 AFRICA GOODBYE CHICKEN, FAREWELL GOAT (Los Angeles Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, True/False Film Festival) Nigeria African Days 2010 BIG MAN (Dubai Film Festival, New York Times, Los Angeles Film Festival) 2012 NORTH AMERICA SHE WAITS IN THE RESTLESS HORIZON USA New York Streets 2005 LINUS (MTVu Film of the Week, 1st Place Calvin Klein Short Film Competition) 2007 THE GIRL IS IN TROUBLE 2015 MEDITATIONS/A LOVE STORY American Lives 2004 THE BOUNDARY (Amnesty International Movies That Matter, Best Director NBC Short Cuts, HBO) 2008 "BROKEN ARROWS" (Avicii) 2015 LUCE 2019 THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX Hollywood Lights 2018