John Ridley
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| John Ridley | |
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John Ridley at the Stockholm Film Festival in 2013.
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| Born | John Ridley IV October 1965 (age 58) Milwaukee, Wisconsin US |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation | Screenwriter Film director Novelist Television writer Television director |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Notable work | 12 Years a Slave |
| Spouse(s) | Gayle |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | John Ridley III |
John Ridley IV[1] (born October 1965)[2] is an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Contents
Early life
Ridley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[2] and raised from age 7 in Mequon, Wisconsin,[3][4] with an ophthalmologist father, John Ridley, III, and a mother, Terry Ridley, who was a special education teacher[1] for Milwaukee Public Schools.[3][5] He has two sisters and is the middle sibling.[3]
Ridley graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin in 1982.[3] He enrolled in Indiana University but transferred to New York University.[3]
Career
Following college, Ridley performed standup comedy in New York City, with appearances on a David Letterman late-night talk show and The Tonight Show.[3] Moving to Los Angeles in 1990, he began writing for such television sitcoms as Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The John Larroquette Show.[3]
After both writing and directing his film debut, the 1997 crime thriller Cold Around the Heart, he and Oliver Stone co-adapted Ridley's first novel, Stray Dogs (still unpublished when Stone bought the rights[6]) into the 1997 Stone-directed film U Turn, which was released slightly earlier than Cold Around the Heart. Ridley went on to write the novels Love Is a Racket and Everybody Smokes in Hell. His novel Spoils of War was adapted into the 1999 David O. Russell-directed Three Kings. Ridley's original script was rewritten by Russell and Ridley, with Ridley receiving a "story by" credit negotiated among himself, Russell, and the releasing studio, Warner Bros.[7] Ridley then became a writer and a supervising producer on the NBC crime drama Third Watch. His other novels are The Drift, Those Who Walk in Darkness, and A Conversation with the Mann.[3] He also wrote the graphic novel The American Way.[8]
His work as screenwriter also includes 12 Years a Slave,[9] Red Tails, and Undercover Brother. His script for 12 Years a Slave won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[10] making Ridley the second African-American to win the award after Geoffrey S. Fletcher (for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire).[9][11]
As of April 2015, he was developing an ABC television series involving an existing Marvel Comics character.[12]
Filmography
Movies
Television
| Year | TV series | Credit/Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Martin | Writer | |
| 1994 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Writer | |
| 1995 | The John Larroquette Show | Writer | |
| 1995 | The Show | Writer | |
| 1998 | Team Knight Rider | Writer | |
| 1995 | Trinity | Writer | |
| 1999–2004 | Third Watch | Writer | |
| 2003 | Platinum | Writer/Director | |
| 2003 | Static Shock | Writer | |
| 2004 | Justice League | Writer | |
| 2005 | Barbershop: The Series | Writer | |
| 2005 | The Wanda Sykes Show | Writer | |
| 2015 | American Crime | Creator/Writer/Director |
Works and publications
Novels
- Ridley, John. Stray Dogs. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-345-41345-1
- Ridley, John. Love Is a Racket: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1998. ISBN 978-0-375-40142-8
- Ridley, John. Everybody Smokes in Hell. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 978-0-375-40143-5
- Ridley, John. A Conversation with the Mann: A Novel. New York: Warner Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-446-52836-8
- Ridley, John. The Drift. New York: Knopf, 2002. ISBN 978-0-375-41182-3
- Ridley, John. Those Who Walk in Darkness. New York: Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0-446-53093-4
- Ridley, John, and Patricia R. Floyd. What Fire Cannot Burn. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2011, 2007. ISBN 978-1-456-10151-0
Graphic novels
- Ridley, John, and Ben Oliver. The Authority: Human on the Inside. La Jolla, CA: WildStorm Productions, 2004. 978-1-401-20070-1
- Ridley, John. The Razor's Edge: Warblade #5. DC Comics. 2005.
- Ridley, John, Georges Jeanty, and Karl C. Story. The American Way. La Jolla, Calif: WildStorm/DC Comics, 2007. ISBN 978-1-401-21256-8
Stage plays
- Ridley, John. Ten Thousand Years. 2005 (world premiere).
Essays
- Ridley, John. "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger." Esquire, December 2006, Volume 146, Issue 6.
Personal life
Ridley is married to wife Gayle, a former script supervisor.[4][6] They have two children.[13]
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Audio archived on January 28, 2015.
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- ↑ '"Entertainment Weekly, "John Ridley, Easy Writer", p. 2. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015.
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Further reading
- Gennusa, Chris R. "John Ridley: Burnt Noir." Creative Screenwriting. Winter 1997, v. 4 n.4, pp. 33–38
External links
- Archived pages of defunct official site: December 1, 2006 – March 1, 2007, January 8 – April 12, 2007, March 1 – August 28, 2007 (final archived page other than contact page).
- John Ridley at the Internet Movie Database
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- Articles with hCards
- Pages using authority control with parameters
- 1965 births
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- African-American film directors
- African-American writers
- American television writers
- Male television writers
- American comics writers
- American crime fiction writers
- American male novelists
- American science fiction writers
- People from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Writers from Wisconsin
- Living people
- Independent Spirit Award winners
- Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
- African-American screenwriters
- Showrunners
- American male screenwriters
