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Alan Ball Biography

Birth Name:Alan Erwin Ball

Birth Place:Marietta, Georgia, United States

Profession Producer, Writer, Director, Actor, Script department

Fast Facts

In 2008, he was ranked in Out Magazine's annual feature, Out 100, which celebrates gay and straight celebrities alike for their popularity in the LGBT community
Graduated with a theater degree from Florida State University in 1980
Following his graduation from FSU, he worked as a playwright for the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Fla
Quote: "I'm one of those people who is equal parts brutally cynical and achingly romantic, you know? I think those two things can coexist--it's all a question of balance․ You get too cynical, it's just too nihilistic․ You get too romantic, it's unrealistic․"
Quote: "I definitely see the good in people․ Certainly in my own life I strive to be somebody who is functional and well adjusted and can face conflict in a non-emotional and non-destructive way and those are the people I try to surround myself with in my life․ But as characters, they bore me․"
An outspokenly gay man, many of Ball's works involve gay characters or characters dealing with gay issues
Often creates characters that grapple with themes of death, which he has attributed to his surviving of a car accident that claimed the life of his older sister when he was 13 years old
According to a 2012 interview with NPR, Ball claims that he didn't come out as gay to his mother until he was 33 years old
His Academy Award-winning screenplay for the film "American Beauty" was inspired by the court case of Amy Fisher, a teenage girl who shot her older lover's wife

Awards

1999ACCA-Best Original Screenplay: winner
1999LAFCA Award-Best Screenplay: nominated
1999TFCA Award-Best Screenplay: nominated
2000Oscar-Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: winner
2000BAFTA Film Award-Best Screenplay - Original: nominated
2000CFCA Award-Best Screenplay: nominated
2000Chlotrudis Award-Best Screenplay: nominated
2000Critics Choice Award-Best Screenplay, Original: winner
2000DFWFCA Award-Best Screenplay: winner
2000Golden Globe-Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: winner
2000Sierra Award-Best Screenplay, Original: nominated
2000ALFS Award-Screenwriter of the Year: winner
2000NSFC Award-Best Screenplay: nominated
2000OFTA Film Award-Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: winner
2000OFTA Film Award-Best First Screenplay: winner
2000OFCS Award-Best Original Screenplay: nominated
2000Golden Satellite Award-Best Screenplay, Original: nominated
2000SEFCA Award-Best Original Screenplay: winner
2000WGA Award (Screen)-Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: winner
2002DGA Award-Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night: winner
2002OFTA Television Award-Best Direction in a Drama Series: nominated
2002OFTA Television Award-Best Writing in a Drama Series: nominated
2002Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: winner
2002Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Drama Series: nominated
2003PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: nominated
2003Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Drama Series: nominated
2004DGA Award-Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night: nominated
2004PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: winner
2005Gold Derby TV Award-Drama Episode of the Year: nominated
2005PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: nominated
2005Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Drama Series: nominated
2006DGA Award-Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night: nominated
2006Gold Derby TV Award-Drama Episode of the Year: winner
2006PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: nominated
2006Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: nominated
2006Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: nominated
2006WGA Award (TV)-Dramatic Series: nominated
2008Grand Special Prize-: nominated
2009WGA Award (TV)-New Series: nominated
2010BAFTA TV Award-Best International: nominated
2010Gold Derby TV Award-Drama Episode of the Decade: winner
2010PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: nominated
2010Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Drama Series: nominated
2011Bram Stoker Award-Screenplay: nominated
2011Jupiter Award-Best International TV Series: winner
2011PGA Award-Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: nominated
2017Black Reel-Outstanding TV Movie/Limited Series: nominated
2017Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Television Movie: nominated
2020Grand Special Prize-: nominated
2020Audience Award-: winner
2020Audience Award-U.S. Cinema: winner
2021Primetime Emmy-Outstanding Television Movie: nominated
2021WGA Award (TV)-Original Long Form: nominated