Salim Akil

Salim Akil is an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter from Oakland, California.^[1] He developed the television series Black Lightning based on a DC comics character of the same name. He is a co-founder of Akil Productions which he founded with his wife Mara Brock Akil.^[2]

Akil was born in Oakland, California. He attended Columbia College Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.^[3]

Akil began his production career in 1999, working on the film Drylongso, which played at the Sundance Film Festival later that year.^[4] In 2000, he worked as a staff writer and executive producer on the Showtime series Soul Food .^[5] That same year, he founded Akil Productions, then known as Happy Camper Productions, with his wife Mara Brock Akil.^[6] Mara later created the show Girlfriends, which premiered in 2000 on UPN , with Salim directing several episodes. The show's spin-off The Game premiered in 2006 on The CW, with Salim serving as an executive producer.^[7] In 2011, he directed the film Jumping the Broom,^[8] which was nominated for a BET Award for Best Movie;^[9] he also won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Director in a Motion Picture for the film that same year.^[10] In 2012, he directed and co-produced a remake of the film Sparkle.^[11] Akil executive produced the BET series Being Mary Jane, created by Mara, which premiered in 2014. In 2016, he received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for the show's episode "Sparrow", as well as a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Television) for The Start Up.^[12] He later began developing the show Black Lightning , which premiered in 2018 on The CW. He has written and directed several episodes of the series since its premiere. In February 2021, Akil confirmed a spin-off of Black Lightning titled Painkiller was in production.^{[13] [14]}

Akil married Mara Brock in 1999. The two met while working on the set of Moesha.^[4] They have two sons.^{[7] [15]} He and his wife, Mara, are practicing Sufi Muslims. The Akils created Love is ___, which was based on their relationship, but was canceled after a woman accused Salim of domestic violence in an alleged extramarital affair, as well as copyright infringement by using her screenplay as the basis for the series.^{[16] [17]} A statement made by Akil's lawyers denied all allegations.^{[18] [19]}

• Official website
• Salim Akil at IMDb

• Living people
• 21st-century American male writers
• 21st-century American screenwriters
• African-American Muslims
• African-American television writers
• American male screenwriters
• American male television writers
• American television producers
• American television writers
• People from Oakland, California
• American showrunners
• Muslims from California

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2021
• Articles with hCards
• Year of birth missing (living people)