‘Sinners’ producer Zinzi Coogler is 1st Filipino to earn Oscars’ Best Picture nod

LOS ANGELES – As one of the three producers of “Sinners,” Zinzi Evans Coogler made history as the first Filipino to earn the Oscars’ Best Picture nomination.

Zinzi, whose mother Maria is Filipina, director-husband Ryan Coogler and Sev Ohanian set an Academy record with “Sinners’ ” record-breaking 16 nominations.

The winners were announced in Sunday’s ceremonies at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

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Zinzi Coogler as a lead producer

Although she has executive-produced several movie and television projects, “Sinners” marks Zinzi’s first time as a lead producer. Hollywood’s new powerful trio, Zinzi, Ryan, and Sev, won plaudits since their vampire horror film, which explores race, historical violence and oppression in America, was released to critical and commercial success.

The producers behind record-breaking ‘Sinners’ – (from left) Sev Ohanian, Zinzi Coogler and Ryan Coogler | Photo from AMPAS

“Sinners,” starring Michael B. Jordan, Fil-Am Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, and Wunmi Mosaku, earned unprecedented 16 nominations, the most nods a single film garnered in the Academy’s 98-year history.

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The citations included a historic one for the film’s Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the first Filipina and Black woman to get a Best Cinematography nomination. Ryan’s citations, aside from Best Picture, are Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

When “Sinners” captured the Golden Globe Award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement in January, Zinzi, Ryan, and Sev were named the official recipients.

Born to a Black father and a Pinay mother in Oakland, California, Zinzi was one of the producers of several films and TV shows, including “Creed III” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.”

In Warner Brothers’ Oscars pre-party on Friday, Zinzi said to this writer that she visited the Philippines with her family when she was a baby.

Inquirer’s Ruben Nepales (right) with Ryan and Zinzi Coogler | CONTRIBUTED

Growing up in the Bay Area in California, Zinzi and Ryan met for the first time and fell in love as high school athletes. Zinzi took communicative sciences and deaf studies at California State University, Fresno, where she was a top cross-country athlete. She became a certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.

In college, Ryan began penning screenplays in Microsoft Word, which was not user-friendly, format-wise, for writing scripts. In an interview for the Hot 97 Morning Show in 2018, Ryan shared his gratitude for what Zinzi did:

“I was trying to write [screenplays] in Microsoft Word. It’s impossible because your format gotta be right. I was broke, playing football on the little scholarship money. And my wife scraped together some cheese and bought me Final Draft, which is the software that you write your movies on. And she got me that.”

Ryan Coogler pays tribute to Zinzi

The filmmaker also paid tribute to Zinzi when he won Best Director for “Sinners” at the 8th Critics’ Choice Association Awards: “In 2003, I saw a young girl kicking everybody’s ass on the track. I didn’t get her number that day. I built up my courage and got it at the next track meet. She changed my life. She made me a better football player, a better student, a better person.

“She made me a better filmmaker when we figured out that that’s what we were gonna do. She was there on every set, always in the background, never getting credit. And in this movie, she was my boss, and it was fucking awesome. I think she’s the biggest reason why this movie is so good.”

Ryan and Zinzi, who married in 2016, have three children. In 2021, Zinzi, Ryan, and Sev formed their multimedia company, Proximity Media.

Zinzi Coogler’s mom born in PH

Last year, Ryan Coogler talked about the trio’s diverse background in Filmmaker magazine: “…Zinzi’s mom was born in the Philippines [and] moved to the States in her twenties. Sev’s parents were born in Iran; they’re Armenian, and Sev was born in Germany. Both Zinzi and Sev are first-generation; Zinzi’s dad’s family has been here for centuries.

“Our company is made up of a lot of folks from different backgrounds, so I think we have a good instinct for what’s giving us what’s gonna give us the biggest shot. To have your film open internationally at our age, bro—it’s my fifth one. The global audience has shown up for my movies, so I gotta keep them in mind.”

Zinzi and Ryan’s upcoming projects include an untitled “X-Files” reboot with Autumn as cinematographer, an untitled Prince musical, and “Bitter Root,” to be directed by Regina King.

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