Askia Gibson was born and raised on the west side of Detroit, MI. Raised by his mother and extended family, he always showed a love of entertaining others.
As a youngster Askia would show a talent for writing stories, a love for reading and a passion for collecting comic books. Through his love for comics, he and his cousin would eventually submit their own characters to Marvel. After several submissions and no response from Marvel, Askia took matters into his own hands and began writing his own stories with the characters he'd created. He would later find that his ideas and characters were used at Marvel.
Askia’s imagination, love of entertaining and story telling abilities proved to lead to a natural interest in film making, but he deferred that passion to pursue dreams of being a rap superstar. Starting out in a rap group with high school friends, he would go on to make a group album, as well as a solo project. Neither projects have been released.
After high school he was hired by Ford motor Company and worked there for eight years. There he met his wife, Akela and through their relationship, and her encouragement, he was encouraged to pursue his true dream of being a film maker.
After some years with the company, Ford began to offer buyouts to employees that were interested in leaving the company. Askia jumped at the opportunity and used the buyout to relocate his family to Arizona where he enrolled into the Zaki Gordon Independent Film Institute.
Askia enrolled at ZGI and would go on to excel in the accelerated program and completed with a 3.9 grade average. After a grueling nine months the Zaki Gordon Independent Film Institute hosted a film festival where the students were allowed to present their own written, produced, and directed works. Askia's presentation, “The Prologue of Adam”, received great reviews from the community.
While at the school Askia directed a total of four films, including the 16min short entitled “The Prologue of Adam”. He would also go on to crew on eight different sets.
