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Preston A. Whitmore II
  • Biography

Preston A. Whitmore II

Preston A. Whitmore II was born and raised in Detroit. After dropping out of high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he acquired his GED. Upon his discharge from the Marines, he settled in California, went to Los Angeles City College and then transferred to California State University Northridge. While attending University of Laverne School of Law he began developing his skill as a writer, winning the esteemed American Jurisprudence Award.

After leaving law school, Whitmore went on to write and direct the low-budget action picture The Walking Dead, which chronicled the lives and mission of four African American soldiers in Vietnam. It starred Allen Payne, Eddie Griffin, Joe Morton, Vonte Sweet and Bernie Mac. The success of the picture led to Whitmore writing and producing Fled, an action picture starring Laurence Fishburne and Steven Baldwin as prison escapees on the lam. Whitmore has tried his hand in television as well as theater, writing episodes for Malcolm & Eddie, starring Malcolm Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin, and writing and directing the play Pimp, which debuted at the famed Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles. Whitmore has continued to demonstrate his diverse talents, producing and writing the television action crime thriller Blood Crime, starring James Caan and Jonathan Schaech.

His work has often focused on the disproportionate incarceration of African American men and women. This is addressed in two films he wrote and produced: Lockdown, starring Richard T. Jones, Gabriel Casseus and De'Aundre Bonds as a trio of friends unjustly imprisoned, and Civil Brand, which focuses on slave-labor programs in women prisons, and stars Lisa Raye, N'Bushe Wright, Monica Calhoun, Mos Def, Clifton Powell and DaBrat. The shoestring independent production won the Blockbuster Award for Best Film and Best Actor (Clifton Powell), 2002 American Black Film Festival Audience Award for Best Film, Special Jury Prize, and 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival. It was featured at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

After completing a production rewrite of Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, Whitmore wrote, produced and directed the independent drama Doing Hard Time, starring Boris Kodjoe, Michael K. Williams, Giancarlo Esposito, Sticky Fingaz, Steven Bauer, Reagan Gomez-Preston and Jazsmin Lewis.

He currently has a number of projects in development at his Los Angeles based production company, The Preston Picture Company.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.

Preston A. Whitmore II Facts

OccupationDirector
BirthdayJune 26, 1962 (61)
SignCancer
BirthplaceDetroit, Michigan, USA

Selected Filmography

Not available.