Reginald Hudlin, an innovator of the modern black film movement, will be the Keynote Speaker at the first ever Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity event, to be held next month at Long Beach Comic Expo. The ceremony will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center on Saturday February 28 at 2 PM PT.

Hudlin created, written and or directed such beloved films as House Party, Boomerang and BeBe’s Kids, which are some of the most profitable and influential films of his generation. Hudlin received a Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for producing Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. The film won multiple awards including two Oscars and two Golden Globe Awards, and is one of the top grossing Westerns of all time.

Hudlin is the executive producer and writer of the Black Panther animated series, which premiered following a successful multi year comic book run. Hudlin’s stories reinvigorated the classic super hero for Marvel.  He was also executive producer of The Boondocks animated series, director the pilot of the hit series Everybody Hates Chris, and was producer and director of several award-winning episodes of The Bernie Mac Show.

From 2005-2009, Hudlin was the first President of Entertainment for B.E.T. Networks, creating some of the network’s highest rated shows during his tenure. While there, he launched a profitable home entertainment division and revamped the news division, which went on to win more than a dozen awards in that period.

Recently, Hudlin directed episodes of Murder In The First, Bad Judge and other hit series such as Modern Family, The Office, The Middle, and Psych. Through his production company Hudlin Entertainment, Hudlin produced the 44th NAACP Image Awards last year on NBC, and the 45th NAACP Image Awards this year for TVOne, which was the highest rated show in the history of the network.  Hudlin Entertainment is slated to return to produce the 46th NAACP Image Awards early 2015.  This summer, he partnered with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and The Hollywood Bowl to produce a live cinematic concert experience titled: The Black Movie Soundtrack which was a critical and commercial success. That achievement led to Hudlin producing the 6th Governor’s Awards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honoring Maureen O’Hara, Jean-Claude Carriere, Hideo Misayaki and Harry Belafonte.

Hudlin is a member of several organizations and currently serves on the boards of UCLA School of Theatre, Film & Television and Wasatch.

The five finalists for the first Dwayne McDuffie Award  for Diversity will be announced in February with the winner announced at the Expo event. To learn more about the award and purchase tickets to Long Beach Comic Expo, please visit www.longbeachcomicexpo.com.