Iverson White, aka, Ade Olatunji, is a native of Detroit, Michigan. While attending Cass Technical High School’s Performing Arts program, he joined playwright Ron Milner’s Spirit of Shango Theater Co. After graduating from Cass, Iverson attended Detroit’s Wayne State University. While at WSU he acted in local productions, was a delegate to the Second World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture, in Lagos Nigeria, published several volumes of poetry, and produced, “Oracy,” an LP album of poetry and music with long time collaborator, Kamau Kenyatta, which was re-released as a CD in 2005. He also received WSU’s Tompkins Memorial Awards for poetry and short fiction.

After graduating from WSU with a degree in mass communications, he was a member of the Graduate Repertory Company at the University of New Orleans for one year before transferring to UCLA’s film school. At UCLA Iverson received the Donald Davis and Jack Nicholson Awards for screenwriting. He also produced the award winning short film, “Dark Exodus,” which has been screened on PBS, the Southern Circuit Film Tour, and in national and international film festivals, and received several major awards including The Dore Schary Award from B’nai B’rith, The Paul Robeson Award from the Newark Museum, The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award, and the Prized Pieces Award.

Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Film in the Cities, and the Wisconsin Arts Board among others enabled Iverson to finish his first feature film, “Magic Love,” in 1992. A Rockefeller Fellowship, a Jerome Foundation grant and a National Black Programming Consortium grant allowed him to purchase the rights to Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Johnson Girls,” and produce the film by the same title in 1995.

In 2001, Iverson produced a video documentary about insurance redlining in Milwaukee, titled, “It’s Always Something.”

Iverson White is currently employed as an Associate Professor in the department of Film and New Media, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.