Who Is Ryan Coogler’s Wife? All About His Longtime Love Zinzi Evans
Ryan Coogler isn’t the only member of his family nominated for an Academy Award this year. The director’s wife, Zinzi, produced Sinners, so if the vampire horror flick takes home the top prize this year, she’ll become an Oscar winner, too. Before bringing Sinners to the screen, the couple had been collaborators for years, working together on Creed III and Judas and the Black Messiah.
In fact, Ryan’s longtime love has been supporting him well before his career took off. “My wife, she was my girl at the time, [and] they had a software where you could write screenplays. I was trying to write in Microsoft Word. It’s impossible because your format gotta be right,” he said in a Hot 97 interview, recalling his college days. “I was broke, playing football on the little scholarship money, and my wife scraped together some cheese and bought me Final Draft, which is the software that you write your movies on. And she got me that.”
Zinzi spoke on the anecdote during an interview with Marie Claire. “Gifting was one of my love languages because I loved to give something that would give joy to someone,” she said in January 2026. “I knew nothing about screenwriting, but it was something that he had a real interest in. It was very expensive for us at the time, but if that would give him that joy, then it was my pleasure to be able to do that.”
Since then, Cooglers have cemented themselves as one of Hollywood’s power couples. Keep reading for more details about their love story, kids, and more.
Who is Ryan Coogler’s wife?
Zinzi has over a dozen producing credits under her belt, starting with her husband’s 2009 short film Locks. In 2018, she launched the multimedia company Proximity Media, alongside her husband and film producer and screenwriter Sev Ohanian. The company produced Sinners, as well as 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and Judas and the Black Messiah.
She attended Saint Mary’s College in her native state of California, alongside her future husband. Before she transitioned to the entertainment industry, Zinzi worked for the nonprofit Deaf Counseling, Advocacy & Referral Agency as an ASL interpreter, per her Marie Claire interview.
How did Ryan and Zinzi Coogler meet?
Zinzi served as her high school’s track-and-field captain, and during that time, she caught the eye of her future husband, who was a playing football for another school. Coogler recalled Zinzi “kicking everybody’s a** on the track” in 2003, so he had to muster up courage to ask her out. “She changed my life,” he said during his 2026 Critics’ Choice Directors Award speech. “She made me a better football player, a better student, a better person and she made me a better filmmaker.”
Their first date, fittingly, took place at the movies. They saw Bring It On. “We met when we were 13 or 14,” Zinzi told The Hollywood Reporter. “When you are in a relationship with someone for that long, you pull each other into each other’s lives.”
They stayed together throughout college and did long distance when Zinzi stayed in the Bay Area for her ASL interpreting job, while Ryan moved to L.A. for film school at the University of Southern California. According to Marie Claire, Zinzi would sit in on his film classes when she visited her then-boyfriend. They collaborated on Locks during that time.
Do Ryan and Zinzi Coogler have kids?
Though they’re constantly walking carpets together and promoting their projects, the couple keeps their family life private. They’ve had three kids since 2019, and their latest was born in 2025.
Zinzi hopes her work creates a softer world for her kids. “That’s why we’re so passionate about the stories we tell, because kindness is so important, and maybe if we have a deeper understanding of each other, that kindness wouldn’t come so difficult,” Zinzi told Marie Claire. “I hope that would be an influence to our kids, regardless of what comes about.”
