Angela Tucker ’92, an award-winning director, producer and writer, is the founder of TuckerGurl Inc (www.tuckergurl.com), a boutique production company that primarily specializes in narrative and documentary films about underrepresented communities. She received an MFA in film from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University. Angela is a former Sundance Institute Women’s Fellow and a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. She lives in New Orleans.
*Published in the 2022 Alumnae Bulletin
“How do I want to put myself out in the world?”
Angela Tucker ’92 recalled asking herself this question when she was a student at Chapin. She found an answer in Drama Club, which gave her the freedom to be inventive and to push boundaries. “I knew I wanted to create something that allowed for more diverse stories,” she said.
The one-act play she directed during her senior year stands out in her mind. “I remember my clear vision and what an exciting feeling that was,” said Angela, who attended Wesleyan University and grew up to become a celebrated filmmaker. Reflecting on the rewards and challenges of directing, she added, “You’re always chasing that feeling.”
Angela also learned about activism and social justice at Chapin. As a member of the School’s Amnesty International chapter, she attended a screening of the esteemed documentary “The Thin Blue Line,” about Randall Dale Adams, the Texas man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a police officer. When the film proved instrumental in exonerating him, Angela had an epiphany of sorts. “I realized film can change lives.”
Earlier in her career, Angela interned with Big Mouth Productions, a women-run company that spotlights urgent social issues. “That’s where I learned to make documentaries,” noted Angela, who earned an MFA in film from Columbia University.
Now, as founder of the New Orleans-based production company TuckerGurl, Angela amplifies underrepresented voices through short and feature-length independent films that highlight lesser-known communities in unconventional ways. “It’s so important to tell these stories,” she noted. “I really love the ability to make change. It’s satisfying.”
She served, for example, as the producer on “Belly of the Beast,” a much-lauded 2020 documentary that pulled back the curtain on a disturbing pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons in California, eventually resulting in $7.5 million in reparations for the victims. Another project, “All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk,” which Angela directed, centered on the 2017 mayoral runoff between two Black women, Desirée Charbonnet and LaToya Cantrell, told through the eyes of the city’s Black residents.
In collaboration with REI Co-Op Studios, Angela directed “The Trees Remember,” a series of shorts featuring Black women of different ages growing and thriving in nature. A feature on Barbara Jordan, the trailblazing lawyer and U.S. Representative, is currently in development.
She also makes fictional films, including the upcoming “New Orleans Noel,” which she co-wrote and directed. “I always wanted to make a holiday movie,” she said with a laugh.
Angela’s hard work and talent have certainly garnered widespread attention. In addition to being a Peabody-nominated and Emmy and Webby Award-winning filmmaker, she is a former Sundance Institute Women’s Fellow and a recipient of Firelight Media’s inaugural William Greaves Fund, which recognizes mid-career filmmakers from racially and ethnically underrepresented groups.
For Angela to succeed and thrive in the male-dominated film industry, where she is among a small cohort of Black women directors and producers, she needed confidence and tenacity, qualities she says she began to cultivate at Chapin.
“Chapin taught me to be an independent thinker,” she said. “I learned the importance of standing up for yourself and letting your voice be heard.”
After arriving at 100 East End Avenue in eighth grade from the Prep for Prep program, Angela immersed herself in her academic classes and extracurricular activities, quickly realizing what a special place Chapin was.
“I treasured being educated through a female lens and reading books written by women,” she said, adding, “The girls’ school experience was pretty incredible. I’ll never get that again.” She also formed lasting friendships that endure to this day.
When asked if she considers herself a role model, Angela doesn’t hesitate. “I know I am because so few people are able to make films. It’s incredibly hard to do.” She takes her responsibility as a mentor very seriously. “Young female filmmakers work with me at all times,” she said.
For alums who might be interested in dipping their toes into the world of film, Angela advises ample trips to the movie theater (or streaming at home) “to help develop what stories you want to tell.” She shared that her “favorite movie of all time” is the 1978 drama “Killer of Sheep” from the renowned Black filmmaker Charles Burnett.
She also encourages aspiring directors to “just start making films. The more films you make, the better your filmmaking is going to be.”
To balance the demands of her hectic schedule, Angela practices daily meditation and yoga. She also enjoys the vibrant culture of her adopted home, where she has lived for the past nine years. “New Orleans has great live music. It’s a very different city from New York. It’s a much slower pace. People walk slower.”