Carl Franklin

CARL FRANKLIN, in pre-production on the Ashley Judd film, HIGH CRIMES, most recently directed ONE TRUE THING, for which Meryl Streep received an Oscar nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination. The mother-daughter relationship story, produced by Universal Pictures, also starred Renee Zellweger. DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995), based on the book of the same title by Walter Mosley, was directed and penned by the former successful actor and received critical acclaim.

Franklin began working professionally as a feature director with Roger Corman’’s Concorde Films, while he was enrolled in the American Film Institute’’s Master of Fine Arts program in Directing. After a screening of his award-winning thesis film, PUNK, he was signed to direct the low-budget crime drama, ONE FALSE MOVE (1991). The film, which was named one of the ten best films of 1992 by the National Board of Review, brought Franklin to national attention as a motion picture director. Following the success of ONE FALSE MOVE, he then went on to direct the acclaimed HBO miniseries, LAUREL AVENUE, the story of an extended African-American family living in St. Paul.

Franklin began his career as a successful actor. After studying history and dramatic arts at UC Berkeley, he made his stage debut with the New York Shakespeare Festival, appearing in productions of Cymbeline, Timon of Athens, Pantagleise and Twelfth Night at New York’’s Lincoln Center and the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

Making his feature film debut in the comedy, FIVE ON THE BLACK SIDE, a wide range of television work followed, including regular roles on the series CARIBE, FANTASTIC JOURNEY and MCCLAIN''''S LAW. He also held a recurring role as Captain Crane on the popular ‘80s action series THE A-TEAM. Between television appearances, Franklin starred in the Los Angeles Taper Too production of IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, which moved to Taper Mainstage and finally to the 1985 Sydney Festival in Australia.