Born and raised to be a Black, Muslim woman in Baltimore, Nia has been a writer since the day her mother first put a pencil in her hand. Although writing has been Nia’s passion, her mother’s emphasis on education led Nia to become a school teacher. She taught children for more than twenty years, and raised her own two children along the way, including a son with Autism. However, Nia’s passion for storytelling cannot be quenched. She made the bold move to Los Angeles in 2005, to pursue the dream of reaching global audiences with her writing.
Since her arrival to Los Angeles, Nia studied directing under the tutelage of famed director Lilyan Chauvin, until the time of Lilyan’s death in 2008. Her first award, and her first short film, “Temporary Loss of Power,” was an audience favorite at the Baltimore Women’s Film Festival in 2007. Shortly thereafter, Nia began studying acting with Tony Award winning actor and teacher, Kent Klineman. She is currently mentored by director Catherine Hardwicke, (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, and Twilight) and has also completed several writing assignments for Morgan Freeman at his production company, Revelations Entertainment.
For the past thirteen years, Nia Malika Dixon has evolved from learning, by working on other filmmakers' sets, (having worked in almost every position, from P.A. on an indie comedy, to 2nd AD on Ryan Coogler's thesis film, “Fig") to launching her own independent film production company. Writing, directing, and producing projects for herself, and for others, via her production company, Audaz Entertainment, Inc. Nia has won several awards, including Best Urban Web Series and Best TV/Web Series in several festivals, for “The Trap Web Series,” (aka Chrysalis the web series,) and recognition for her screenplays, including “Vengeful,” an original pilot for a police detective drama, starring a Black woman; the first since 1974's “Get Christie Love.” Audaz Entertainment also has a docu-series in development, “The Muslim Women,” set to follow the lives of Kamilah, a Black, Muslim singer-songwriter in Oakland, CA, and Maria, the Muslim daughter of Pakistani immigrants pursuing a career as a Muay Thai Kickboxer from Austin, TX. After completing the short film, “City In the Sea,” shot on location in Venice, California in 2011, Nia has been preparing to shoot The Trap as her own first feature film.
“The Trap Web Series,” can be seen on her YouTube Channel, (https://www.youtube.com/NiaMalikaDixonPresents) and it serves as the prequel to the feature film, The Trap, the story of Ameena, a Black Muslim Woman who becomes a drug kingpin to provide for her daughter; while slowly embracing the violence that comes with the crown. Ameena is the Michael Corleone for Black Muslim women. The film is inspired by true events.