Roger Ross Williams (born September 16, 1962) is an American director, producer and writer and the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

director to win an

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 ...

(Oscar), with his short film '' Music by Prudence''; this film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2009.

Early life and education

Williams was born September 16, 1962, in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

, in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He is a member of a

Gullah The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African Americans, African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within ...

family from

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. Williams attended

Easton Area High School Easton Area High School is a large four-year public high school located in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley area of eastern Pennsylvania. It is one of nine public schools and the only high school in the Easton Area School District. As ...

and then Northampton Community College in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in New York City.

Career

Williams began his career in 1985, producing

political satire Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satir ...

for

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

and

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's Emmy Award-winning series '' TV Nation''. He has since produced and directed for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and has produced work for

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

, including numerous primetime specials for

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...

(PBS),

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...

(ABC) and

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

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 ...

, Sundance Channel and New York Times Television. He has also produced a documentary series for Discovery Networks and a lifestyle series, ''Sheila Bridges Designer Living'', for Scripps Networks. He has won numerous awards for his TV work including a NAMIC Vision Award and the National Headliner for Best Human Interest Feature documentary. Williams has directed a number of films including '' Life, Animated'', which won the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Directing Award, was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and '' Target for Tonight''. They have since been bes ...

and won three

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

in 2018, including the award for Best Documentary. The film '' God Loves Uganda'' that he directed, which was shortlisted for an

and ''American Jail'', examined the U.S. prison system and premiered on CNN and the BBC. Williams directed '' Traveling While Black'', a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

documentary / transmedia project made for Facebook's Oculus, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. His 2019 film '' The Apollo'', a documentary about Harlem's legendary

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

, was the opening night film of the 2019

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. His first narrative feature film for

Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

is in pre-production. His production company, One Story Up, which he co-founded with Geoff Martz, is producing a variety of projects including documentary series for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. The documentary film ''Master of Light'', directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten and produced by Ilja Roomans, Anousha Nzume and Williams, was played at the music and film festival

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

(SXSW) in March 2022. It is a production of One Story Up and the Dutch documentary collective 'Docmakers'. It is a film about the artist George Anthony Morton. The film was included in

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

that same year. Williams is the first

director to win an

with his short film '' Music by Prudence''; this film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2009. Williams serves on the board of Docubox Kenya, a documentary fund and mentorship program based in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

that supports African filmmakers. Williams serves on the alumni advisor board of None On Record, the alumni advisory board of the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

, and, since 2016, the Board of Governors for the

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

, serving as chair of the Documentary Branch and the Documentary Diversity Committee. He is also a trustee of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, the first major museum in Africa dedicated to contemporary art. Furthermore, he is a member of the Advisory Board of

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema founded by Nancy Buirski, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo editor of ''The New York Times'' and documentary filmma ...

, and of the board of the

Tribeca Film Institute The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City, founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff following the September 11 attacks as a means to revitalize the arts community in lowe ...

Filmography

Director

*1997: ''Discovered At Sundance'' (TV) *2000: ''Reagan: A Life In Pictures'' (TV) *2001: ''Time'' (TV) *2001: ''Challenge America With Erin Brockovich'' (TV) *2002: ''Secret Son'' (TV) *2003: ''Power, Privilege & Justice'' (TV) *2003: ''Boys Will Be Girls'' (TV) *2003: ''First Off The Tee'' (TV) *2003: ''New York Underground'' (TV) *2004: ''The Lives They Lived'' (TV) *2004: ''Moroccan Style'' (TV) *2005: ''Sheila Bridges Designer Living: Morocco Special'' (TV) and ''Sheila Bridges Designer Living'' *2006: ''Amazing Families'' (TV) *2010: ''Undercover Boss'' (TV, 1 episode: 7-Eleven) *2010: '' Music by Prudence'' *2013: '' God Loves Uganda'' *2014: ''Tutu: The Essence of Being Human'' *2015: ''Gospel of Intolerance'' *2015: ''Blackface'' *2016: '' Life, Animated'' *2018: ''American Jail'' *2019: '' The Apollo'' *2023: '' Cassandro'' *2023: '' Love to Love You, Donna Summer'' *2023: '' The Super Models'' (TV) * 2023: ''

Stamped from the Beginning ''Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America'' is a non-fiction book about race in the United States by the American historian Ibram X. Kendi, published April 12, 2016 by Bold Type Books, an imprint of PublicA ...

Producer

*1995: ''People Yearbook '95'' (TV) (segment producer) *1996: ''Sex, Drugs and Consequences'' (TV) (producer) *1997: '' TV Nation'': ''Volume One'' (segment producer) *2000: ''Reagan: A Life In Pictures'' (TV) (producer) *2001: ''Time'' (TV) (producer) *2002: ''Secret Son'' (TV) (producer) *2002: ''Life 360'' (segment producer) (1 episode:Telling the Children) (segment producer) *2003: ''Power, Privilege & Justice'' (TV) (producer) *2003: ''First Off The Tee'' (TV) (producer) *2003: ''New York Underground'' (TV) (producer) *2004: ''The Lives They Lived'' (TV) (producer) *2004: ''Moroccan Style'' (TV) (producer) *2004 - 2005: ''Sheila Bridges Designer Living'' (series supervising producer) *2006: ''Amazing Families'' (TV) (producer) *2007: ''Alone No Love'' (co-producer) *2007: ''Yearbook'' (TV) (series producer) *2010: '' Music by Prudence (producer)'' *2013: ''God Loves Uganda'' (producer) *2014: ''Tutu: The Essence of Being Human'' (producer) *2016: '' Life, Animated'' *2022: ''Master of Light'' *2023: '' Savior Complex'' *2025: '' Move Ya Body: The Birth of House'' *2025: '' How to Build a Library''

Screenwriter

*2000: ''Reagan: A Life In Pictures'' (TV) *2003: ''Power, Privilege & Justice'' (TV) *2003: ''First Off The Tee'' (TV) *2003: ''New York Underground'' (TV) *2004: ''The Lives They Lived'' (TV) *2004: ''Moroccan Style'' (TV) *2005: ''Sheila Bridges Designer Living: Morocco Special'' (TV) *2006: ''Amazing Families'' (TV) *2023: '' Cassandro'' co-written with David Teague

Awards

* NAMIC Vision Award for the television special ''Moroccan Style'' * The National Headliner for Best Human Interest Feature for his documentary ''New York Underground'' *

Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announ ...

for '' Music by Prudence'' in 2010. * Inspiration Award,

for ''God Loves Uganda'' *Best Feature Documentary, Ashland Independent Film Festival for '' God Loves Uganda'' * Best Feature Documentary Dallas International Film Festival for '' God Loves Uganda'' * Directing Award: U.S. Documentary

for '' Life, Animated''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roger Ross 1962 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people African-American film directors American documentary filmmakers Directors of Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award winners Easton Area High School alumni Film directors from Pennsylvania Primetime Emmy Award winners