Ava DuVernay
Having skyrocketed to fame with 2014’s Selma and
the 2018 big-budget epic A Wrinkle in Time, Ava DuVernay
then brought her talents to Netflix with When They See
Us. The publicist-turned-director’s four-part miniseries
(which resulted in 16 Emmy nominations, including
three for DuVernay) exposed how there were actually
six victims of the infamous Central Park jogger case:
a single white female, beaten and raped, and five inno-
cent boys of color, scapegoated and imprisoned for a
crime they didn’t commit. It’s the kind of project that
makes DuVernay’s pulse race, which is the 47-year-old’s
bellwether for deciding what to tackle next. (Among
the projects currently elevating her heart rate: directing
and co-writing both a fashion movie called The Battle
of Versailles for HBO and DC’s upcoming blockbuster
New Gods.) “I’m just trying to work on things that reso-
nate with me,” says DuVernay. “So if that’s something
about injustice, or that’s something more beautiful, it’s
got my attention.” —LYNETTE RICE
DeSUS & MeROLATE-NIGHT HOSTS DESUS NICE, 38, AND THE KID
Mero, 36, have always known their brand is strong. The Bronx-
raised “Bodega Boys” parlayed their easy chemistry and mad
ad-libbing skills into a variety of MTV on-air gigs before landing
their own show on Viceland in 2016. Their brilliant, off-the-cuff
commentary on news and pop culture caught the attention of
Showtime, which snatched up the duo last June to host the net-
work’s first weekly late-night talk show. The budget may be
bigger, but the core of Desus and Mero’s comedy remains
refreshingly unique: no rehearsed monologues or static celeb-
rity chats, just real-time reactions to headlines (on Game of
Thrones’ record number of Emmy nominations, Mero said, “Let
me guess—you got one for Best Lighting?”) and bracingly unfil-
tered interviews (to Zendaya: “What was that Proactiv check
lookin’ like?”). These wonderful jesters are making late-night
better, one ah ah ah at a time. —KRISTEN BALDWIN