Fuqua began his career directing music videos for popular artists such as
Toni Braxton,
Stevie Wonder, and
Prince. He directed
Michelle Pfeiffer in the video ''
Gangsta's Paradise'' by
Coolio which was used to promote
Jerry Bruckheimer's successful film
Dangerous Minds. From 1998 onwards, Fuqua began working primarily as a feature film director. In a tribute article for
Time magazine, Fuqua expressed his early respect for Kurosawa as a filmmaker and how Kurosawa influenced his own perspective on filmmaking stating: "[screen writer Hashimoto's] ... working with
Akira Kurosawa and
Hideo Oguni, was so beautiful and poetic and powerful and heartbreaking. It was all about justice, it was all about sacrifice, and it made me want to be one of those guys". He co-created the comic-book miniseries
After Dark with
Wesley Snipes, which was written by
Peter Milligan and illustrated by Jeff Nentrup. He was slated to direct
Tupac Shakur's official biopic but the project was postponed to allow Fuqua to direct rapper
Eminem's second feature film,
Southpaw (2015). Eminem later left
Southpaw to focus on his music, and was replaced with
Jake Gyllenhaal. Fuqua's 2016 film,
The Magnificent Seven, was a remake of the classic 1960 Western
of the same name which itself was an American remake of Kurosawa's 1954 film,
Seven Samurai. Denzel Washington plays the lead role of Sam Chisolm. In early 2018, Fuqua worked as one of the executive producers on the
Fox medical drama series
The Resident. In the summer of 2018, his thriller sequel
The Equalizer 2 (2018) was released with Denzel Washington returning in the main role. In June 2021, Fuqua's sci-fi film
Infinite, starring
Mark Wahlberg and
Chiwetel Ejiofor was released. In 2021, Fuqua and actor
Will Smith announced that their upcoming film,
Emancipation, would not be filmed in
Georgia because of the recent passage of Georgia's
new voting law. Smith and Fuqua released a joint statement: "We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access". On December 3, 2021, he signed a first look deal with
Netflix and renamed his production company from Fuqua Films to Hill District Media. He later signed an overall television deal with
Paramount Television Studios and
MTV Entertainment Studios. In 2023, it was announced that Fuqua would be producing a television miniseries based on the life of
Shaka. In January 2023, Fuqua announced his next film project would be
Michael, a
biographical film about
Michael Jackson, starring Jackson's nephew
Jaafar Jackson and being produced by
Graham King. On May 6, 2024, Hill District Media became officially attached to develop the film adaptation of ''
Sky's End'', a YA dystopian fantasy novel written by
Marc J. Gregson, with Fuqua serving as a producer. == Personal life ==