Nate Parker ( born November 18 , 1979 ) is an American actor who has appeared in '' Beyond the Lights '' , '' Red Tails '' , '' The Secret Life of Bees '' , '' The Great Debaters '' , '' Arbitrage '' , '' Non-Stop '' , '' Felon '' , and '' Pride '' . Parker 's directorial debut feature film , '' The Birth of a Nation '' , in which he also starred , made history at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival when Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the distribution rights for $ 17.5 million , breaking the record for the most paid for a Sundance Film Festival production , surpassing '' Little Miss Sunshine '' , which had been acquired by Searchlight for $ 10 million ten years earlier
2016 Sundance Film Festival
2016 Sundance Film Festival
Nate Parker