If I Had Known I Was a Genius is a film directed by Dominique Wirtschafter and written by Markus Redmond (who also stars in the film). The film premiered January 23, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival.
Michael (Markus Redmond) is an African-American boy with a genius I.Q. His family refuses to encourage him and tries to bring him down, and his mother (Whoopi Goldberg) nicknames him "Ugly". Michael enrolls in a high school drama class and finds encouragement from an eccentric teacher.