Two famous filmmakers, Barry Jenkins and Lulu Wang, are now married.
Barry Jenkins, known for the Oscar-winning movie Moonlight, and Lulu Wang, the director of The Farewell, got married at a private ceremony last weekend. Barry confirmed the news while attending the premiere of his new movie Mufasa: The Lion King.
“It feels great,” he said. “We’ve been together for a long time. We do the same work, and when I started this project, she was very involved. She even helped convince me to read the script.”
Jenkins, 45, and Wang, 41, have been together since at least 2018. They appeared together on the red carpet for the first time at the 2019 Academy Awards. Barry said, “When you do something as strange as making movies, it’s nice to come home and have someone who understands. They help you handle all the weirdness.”
Barry began his career with the movie Medicine for Melancholy in 2008. His second film, Moonlight, won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2017, and Barry won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
After Moonlight, Barry directed If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018, which earned Regina King an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Barry also got another Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Lulu made her debut with Posthumous in 2014 and became well-known for her second film, The Farewell. The movie, based on a true story, shows a family keeping their grandmother’s cancer diagnosis a secret. It premiered at Sundance in 2019, where Barry supported the project. Barry’s name appears in the “Special Thanks” section of the film.
In the five years since their relationship became public, both directors have worked mostly on television projects. Barry’s show The Underground Railroad on Prime Video got Emmy nominations in 2020. Lulu’s show Expats, based on the novel The Expatriates, came out earlier this year.
Lulu said she enjoyed working on Expats and hopes to do more TV. “Television gives you a chance to explore characters deeply. It’s like reading a novel with layers and layers,” she said.
Barry, on the other hand, was excited to work on his first musical, Mufasa: The Lion King, with Lin-Manuel Miranda. “It was amazing to work with Lin,” Barry said. “I’ve never made a musical before, so I knew we’d figure it out as we went along. In a musical, you need to plan the music first!”