Devon Franklin: How the Bay Area shaped a Hollywood trailblazer

By Loureen Ayyoub

DeVon Franklin has built a career as an award-winning film producer, bestselling author and motivational speaker, but he says he’s never forgotten where it all began, in the East Bay.

During a recent visit to Oakland, Franklin stopped to greet relatives at his childhood church and reflect on how the region has shaped him. 

“This is my Aunt Nuna,” he said proudly, introducing the 99-year-old family matriarch.

Franklin, 46, was born in Livermore and grew up between Pleasanton, Richmond, and Oakland. At just 9 years old, he lost his father to a heart attack, an event he has said defined his childhood and redirected the course of his life. The church his family established in Oakland became a place of refuge.

“Right after my father died, it was really church and going to the movies and watching TV that became my therapy,” Franklin said.

Raised by his single mother, grandmother and aunts, Franklin was the middle child of three boys. The family relied on welfare at times, he said, but he never let hardship dictate the size of his dreams.

“If I had allowed the environment to dictate my dream, I would have never been here. I would have never made it,” Franklin said. “And so sometimes, with the way we use faith, we just gotta close our eyes. And whatever we see there, that’s what we follow.”

Franklin’s early years in Oakland, he said, gave him both perspective and purpose. His passion for storytelling grew from hours spent in church pews and movie theaters, two places that, for him, offered meaning and possibility.

“It really came from being here in this environment, and saying, you know, I want to make a mark on the world,” he said.

Franklin went on to attend the University of Southern California, where he began interning for actor Will Smith, an entry point into Hollywood that would eventually shape his career. After working his way up through major studios, Franklin launched his own production company in 2014.

Over the years, he has collaborated with industry giants, including Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, producing inspirational and faith-based films that have reached audiences worldwide.

His latest project, “Ruth and Boaz,” recently hit No. 1 on Netflix, a milestone Franklin described as surreal, especially when reflecting on how far he has come.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Growing up, in high school, we used to come down here to Oakland and do Festival at the Lake, which was an annual event that they had. And you know, nobody knew me at all. And so the idea that I come back here, we’re here at the lake, and people are like, ‘Oh, what’s up DeVon?’ I’m like, that’s just crazy. It’s amazing.”

Though his work has taken him around the world, Franklin said he credits his Bay Area upbringing, and the faith that steadied him through grief, for shaping who he is today.

“When you look at the Bay, the Bay is an incubator for greatness,” he said. “If you don’t see what you want in your circumstances, that is the perfect environment to become everything you want.”

From the pews of Oakland to the studios of Hollywood, Franklin’s path has come full circle, and he hopes his story serves as a reminder that sometimes, your origins, can be your greatest source of strength.