Woodie King, Jr.

Woodie King Jr. (July 27, 1937 – January 29, 2026) was an American film and theatre actor, producer and director. Renowned for his pioneering career, he dedicated himself to increasing the representation of African-American voices in the performing arts. King is credited with producing and directing more than 400 performances across the United States . He has been hailed by theatre arts journalists as "the Renaissance Man of Black Theatre".

King is best known as the founding director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City, with a mission to amplify the voices of Black artists, women, other underrepresented identities. Numerous African-American artists who are highly prominent in the entertainment industry today performed at the New Federal Theatre in the early years of their careers, including Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Lawrence Fishburne, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, Loretta Devine, Jackie Harry, Reginald Vel Johnson, Al Freemon Jr. and more.

He retired from his role as the producing director at the New Federal Theatre in 2021, but he remained on the board.

King is widely celebrated for his transformative influence on the development and public recognition of Black voices in the performing arts. He has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. His recognitions include the John Hay Whitney Fellowship at The American Place Theater, the Venice Festival Award and the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen Award for The Game, and the International Film Critics Award for Right On. He also earned the A. Philip Randolph Award at the New York Film Festival for Epitaph, as well as an NAACP Image Award for his direction of Checkmates. King won AUDELCO Awards for Best Director and Best Play for Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil, and later received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement, the Actors' Equity Association's Paul Robeson Award, and its Rosetta LeNoire Award. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame and honored with the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre.

He graduated high school in 1956. He then started a job at the Ford Motor Company as an arc welder. From 1958 to 1962 King attended The Will-O-Way School of Theatre in Detroit on a scholarship.

After moving to New York in 1964, King was awarded the John Hays Whitney Fellowship to study theatre direction and administration at The American Place Theatre. In 1999, he graduated from Brooklyn College in New York with a M.F.A. in Theater with a concentration in Directing.

In 2008, King was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters by Lehman College. King held a doctorate in Humane Letters from Wayne State University. He also held honorary doctorate degrees from the College of Wooster and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Credits King has a long list of credits in film, television, and stage direction and production, including the following:

Film Year Title Role Ref.

1974 What the Wine Sellers Buy Producer Ron Milner Vivian Beaumont Theater 1975 The Talking of Miss Janie Producer Ed Bullins The Henry Street Settlement 1975 The First Breeze of Summer Producer Leslie Lee Palace Theatre 1976 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf Producer Ntozake Shange The Public Theater 1976 Sizwe Banzi Is Dead Director Athol Fugard, John Kani, Winston Ntshona Pittsburgh Public Theater 1980 Reggae Executive Producer Melvin Van Peebles, Stafford Harrison Biltmore Theatre 1984 AmeriCain Gothic Director Paul Carter Harrison 1989 God’s Trombones Director James Weldon Johnson Theater of Riverside Church 1996 Home Director Samm-Art Williams Baltimore Center Stage 1998 Angels in America Tony Kushner Ohio State University 2000 James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire Howard Simon New York Shakespeare Festival 2002 Urban Transition: Loose Blossoms Director Ron Milner The Harry De Jur Playhouse 2015 Dutchman Director Amiri Baraka Castillo Theatre 1968: Venice Festival Award for The Game 1993: AUDELCO awards for Best Director and Best Play for Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil 2003: The Actors’ Equity Association’s Paul Robeson Award 2005: The Actors' Equity Association’s Rosetta LeNoire Award 2011: Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame 2020: Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre