Alan Ball Biography

Fast Facts

• Was greatly affected by witnessing the death of his sister in a car accident when he was 13
• Founding member of both the General Nonsense Theater Company in Florida and the Alarm Dog Repertory Theater Company in New York City
• Received his first writing job for television after a Hollywood executive saw a production of his play Five Women Wearing the Same Dress
• Openly negative about his time writing for the shows Grace Under Fire and Cybill, admitting that his anger from working on the two sitcoms fed his inspiration while writing the Oscar-winning screenplay for American Beauty