Alan Ball

Alan Ball

Born: May 13, 1957
in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Alan E. Ball is an American writer, director, actor and producer for film, theatre and television.

He is particularly notable for writing American Beauty and True Blood and for creating Six Feet Under, work which earned him an Academy Award, an Emmy, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.

Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on to attend the University of Georgia and Florida State University, from which he graduated in 1980 with a degree in theater arts. After college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida.

Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the situation comedies Grace Under Fire and Cybill. Ball has written two films, American Beauty (1999) and Towelhead (2007), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood. He was showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons. In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston, to be titled All Signs of Death. In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death. He is also one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee. In January 2015, it was announced that Ball's period musical drama Virtuoso had had a pilot ordered by HBO. The pilot will be executively produced by Elton John. Confirmed actors to be starring in the show include Peter Macdissi, Iva Babic, Francois Civil, Lindsay Farris, Nico Mirallegro and Alex Lawther.

For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, an Emmy a Golden Globe, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.

Movies for Alan Ball...

And the Oscar Goes To...
Title: And the Oscar Goes To...
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 1, 2014
Type: Movie
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
bee
Six Feet Under: In Memoriam
Title: Six Feet Under: In Memoriam
Character: Himself
Released: October 25, 2005
Type: Movie
A eulogy for the groundbreaking HBO series.
bee
Anatomy of a Working Stiff
Title: Anatomy of a Working Stiff
Character: Himself
Released: July 6, 2004
Type: Movie
A behind the scenes look at the making of simulated corpses for the TV series "Six Feet Under".
bee
American Beauty: Look Closer...
Title: American Beauty: Look Closer...
Character: Self
Released: October 24, 2000
Type: Movie
A promotional short documentary on the making of the film American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball.
bee
Title: The Oscars
Character: Self
Released: March 19, 1953
Type: TV
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.