Kelly Oxford is a Canadian author, director, and screenwriter.

Career

In 1996, Oxford dropped out of

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

after one semester. She started blogging as a means of daily productivity and self-publishing. She later worked as a waitress and at a shoe store. In 2001, Oxford became a full-time stay-at-home mother and began focusing on an anonymous blog. She joined Twitter in 2009, and gained a large following, eventually attracting the attention of celebrities, including

Diablo Cody Brook Maurio (previously Busey-Hunt; ''née'' Busey; born June 14, 1978), known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, ''Candy Girl: A Year ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

, and being contacted by a number of agents. She sold a television script to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, to be executive produced by

Jessica Alba Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her acting career at age 13 in ''Camp Nowhere'', followed up by ''The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (both 1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 as ...

, based on her life as a mother in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. She then wrote another pilot that was bought by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. Neither script has been produced. Oxford moved to Los Angeles in 2012. In 2013, Oxford published a semi-autobiographical book, ''Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar'', which became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. She appeared on the reality show '' Candidly Nicole'', starring

Nicole Richie Nicole Camille Richie (; born September 21, 1981) is an American media personality, fashion designer, and actress. She came to prominence after appearing on the reality television series ''The Simple Life'' (2003–2007), in which she starred al ...

. Additionally Oxford and Molly McNearney, head writer for ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', developed a semi-autobiographical comedy for

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite programing block consisting e ...

in early 2016 that did not air. On April 18, 2017, Oxford released her second book, ''When You Find Out the World is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments''. While appearing on ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' as part of the book's launch, she revealed that it was during a kitchen table conversation with Kimmel and his head writer (and wife) McNearney that the segment " Mean Tweets" originated, after she and Kimmel read cruel tweets to each other in a humorous way, trying to outdo each other. In October 2020, her directorial debut ''

Pink Skies Ahead ''Pink Skies Ahead'' is a 2020 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kelly Oxford in her directorial debut. It stars Jessica Barden, Marcia Gay Harden, Michael McKean, Rosa Salazar, Lewis Pullman, Devon Bostick, Odeya Rush, Evan Ro ...

'' premiered at

AFI Fest The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

Personal life

Oxford and her husband James Skitmore were together for 17 years, until divorcing in 2016. She has three children. She revealed in 2023 that she'd been diagnosed with OCD and

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

Books

* (2013) ''Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar'' (paperback edition 2014, ) * (2017) ''When You Find Out the World is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments'' (hardcover, )

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford, Kelly 1977 births Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women screenwriters Canadian women memoirists Canadian women bloggers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian memoirists People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder People with obsessive–compulsive disorder