American actor and filmmaker Tate Taylor was BOTD in 1969. Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, he began his professional career as an actor, appearing in small roles in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and TV shows Charmed and Six Feet Under. He made his directorial debut with the 2008 comedy Dirty Ugly People. He is best known for his 2011 film The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel about rich white ladies and their Black maids set in 1960s Mississippi. A critical and commercial juggernaut, it earned US $221.8 million in box office receipts from a US $25 million budget, won numerous industry awards and was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, winning best supporting actress for Octavia Spencer. Despite its success, Taylor was criticised for the film’s earnest and simplistic presentation of racism and for privileging a “white saviour” narrative over the experiences of its Black protagonists. Following the Black Lives Matter movement, many of The Help’s stars, including Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard, dissociated themselves from the film. Taylor’s later films include the James Brown biopic Get On Up, the thriller The Girl on the Train, the comedy-horror film Ma and Breaking News in Yuba County. Openly gay since forever, Taylor lives with his partner John Norris in Mississippi.