Cheryl is a world renowned African American director, writer, producer, and founder of Jingletown Films. Cheryl is currently best known for her directing work on shows including OWN’s Queen Sugar, TNT’s Claws, Freeform’s The Fosters, OWN’s Love Is, Showtime’s The Chi, Netflix’s Dear White People, and CBS’s All Rise. Most recently, Cheryl’s work can be seen on HBO’s Lovecraft Country and OWN’s Delilah, which premiered March, 2021. Cheryl’s work on the episode “Strange Case” for Lovecraft Country has earned her a 52nd NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series and has been named one of the best episodes in 2020 by The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Tonight.

Cheryl Dunye first emerged as part of the “Queer New Wave” of young filmmakers in the early 1990s with her first feature film, The Watermelon Woman, winning the Teddy Award for Best Feature at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival. The film, now considered a classic, was restored and re-released widely in 2016 for its 20th anniversary, and resides in the permanent cinema collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Since The Watermelon Woman and Stranger Inside, Cheryl has written and directed a number of films including The Owls, Mommy is Coming, and Black is Blue.