Was born in 1960 in London, where he currently lives and works. On graduating from St. Martins School of Art in 1984, where he studied painting and fine art film, Isaac Julien founded Sankofa Film and Video Collective, and was a founder member of Normal Films in 1999. Julien was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 for his films The Long Road to Mazatlan (1999) and Vagabondia (2000), made in collaboration with Javier de Frutos.