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Alan Ball

Birth Name:
Alan Erwin Ball
Birth Place:
Marietta, Georgia, United States
Profession
Producer, Writer, Director, Actor, Script department
Alan Ball

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 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․"
  • 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․"
  • 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 PrizeNominated
  • 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 PrizeNominated
  • 2020Audience AwardWinner
  • 2020Audience Award - U.S. Cinema:Winner
  • 2021Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Television Movie:Nominated
  • 2021WGA Award (TV) - Original Long Form:Nominated
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