Billy Ray (born 1962) is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He began writing for television and movies in 1994 with ''

Color of Night ''Color of Night'' is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Buena Vista Pictures (through its Hollywood Pictures label). The film was directed by Richard Rush, was join ...

.'' He has written numerous films including the first '' Hunger Games'' film (2012), ''

Richard Jewell Richard Allensworth Jewell (born Richard White; December 17, 1962 – August 29, 2007) was an American security guard and law enforcement officer who alerted police during the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atl ...

'' (2019), and '' Captain Phillips'' (2013) earning an Oscar nomination for the latter.

Biography

Ray was born in Los Angeles, and raised in Encino, Los Angeles,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He is from a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, and attended Steven Wise Temple and Birmingham High School. Starting in 2003, he began to direct as well as write; his first film was '' Shattered Glass,'' inspired by the true story of

Stephen Glass Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is a former American journalist. He worked for ''The New Republic'' from 1995 to 1998 until an internal investigation by the magazine determined the majority of stories he wrote either contained f ...

, a journalist who fabricated a majority of his stories. He was nominated for Most Promising Filmmaker by the

Chicago Film Critics Association The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film criticism, film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film cri ...

and an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

for Best Screenplay for his work on this film. '' Breach'' (2007), which Ray co-wrote and directed, tells a similar story about

Robert Hanssen Robert Philip Hanssen (April 18, 1944 – June 5, 2023) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States periodically from 1979 to 2001. His espionage w ...

, an FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later, Russia, for more than two decades, and Eric O'Neill, who worked as his assistant and helped bring about his downfall. He is perhaps best known for writing the screenplay to the 2012 blockbuster, ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' are a series of Young adult fiction, young adult Dystopian fiction, dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The series consists of a trilogy that follows teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and two ...

'', and his

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated screenplay for the 2013 film, '' Captain Phillips''. Ray also worked with the advertising agency Barkley to help write the

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

2021 " We Make Movies Better" campaign starring

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

Filmography

Films Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Billy Living people American male screenwriters Jewish American screenwriters Film directors from Los Angeles American television writers Place of birth missing (living people) American male television writers 1962 births 21st-century American Jews Writers Guild of America Award winners