John Ridley

John Ridley
John Ridley at the Stockholm Film Festival in 2013.
Born	John Ridley IV October 1965 Milwaukee, Wisconsin US
Alma mater	New York University
Occupation	Screenwriter Film director Novelist Television writer Television director
Years active	1993–present
Notable work	12 Years a Slave
Children	2
Parent(s)	John Ridley III

John Ridley IV^[1] (born October 1965)^[2] is an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Early life

Ridley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,^[2] and raised from age 7 in Mequon, Wisconsin,^[3][4] with an ophthalmologist father, John Ridley, III, and a mother, Terry Ridley, who was a special education teacher^[5] for Milwaukee Public Schools.^[3][6] He has two sisters and is the middle sibling.^[3]

Ridley graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin in 1982.^[3] He enrolled in Indiana University but transferred to New York University.^[3]

Career

Following college, Ridley performed standup comedy in New York City, with appearances on a David Letterman late-night talk show and The Tonight Show.^[3] Moving to Los Angeles in 1990, he began writing for such television sitcoms as Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The John Larroquette Show.^[3]

After both writing and directing his film debut, the 1997 crime thriller Cold Around the Heart, he and Oliver Stone co-adapted Ridley's first novel, Stray Dogs (still unpublished when Stone bought the rights^[7]) into the 1997 Stone-directed film U Turn, which was released slightly earlier than Cold Around the Heart. Ridley went on to write the novels Love Is a Racket and Everybody Smokes in Hell. His novel Spoils of War was adapted into the 1999 David O. Russell-directed Three Kings. Ridley's original script was rewritten by Russell and Ridley, with Ridley receiving a "story by" credit negotiated among himself, Russell, and the releasing studio, Warner Bros.^[8] Ridley then became a writer and a supervising producer on the NBC crime drama Third Watch. His other novels are The Drift, Those Who Walk in Darkness, and A Conversation with the Mann.^[3] He also wrote the graphic novel The American Way.^[9]

His work as screenwriter also includes 12 Years a Slave,^[10] Red Tails, and Undercover Brother. His script for 12 Years a Slave won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,^[11] making Ridley the second African-American to win the award after Geoffrey S. Fletcher (for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire).^[10][12]

He is currently working on writing and creating the next installment in the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe: a TV show for ABC and Marvel Studios based on an already-established Marvel Comics character.^[13]

Filmography

Movies

Television

Works and publications

Novels

• Ridley, John. Stray Dogs. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-345-41345-1
• Ridley, John. Love Is a Racket: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1998. ISBN 978-0-375-40142-8
• Ridley, John. Everybody Smokes in Hell. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 978-0-375-40143-5
• Ridley, John. A Conversation with the Mann: A Novel. New York: Warner Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-446-52836-8
• Ridley, John. The Drift. New York: Knopf, 2002. ISBN 978-0-375-41182-3
• Ridley, John. Those Who Walk in Darkness. New York: Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0-446-53093-4
• Ridley, John, and Patricia R. Floyd. What Fire Cannot Burn. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2011, 2007. ISBN 978-1-456-10151-0

Graphic novels

• Ridley, John, and Ben Oliver. The Authority: Human on the Inside. La Jolla, CA: WildStorm Productions, 2004. 978-1-401-20070-1
• Ridley, John. The Razor's Edge: Warblade #5. DC Comics. 2005.
• Ridley, John, Georges Jeanty, and Karl C. Story. The American Way. La Jolla, Calif: WildStorm/DC Comics, 2007. ISBN 978-1-401-21256-8

Stage plays

• Ridley, John. Ten Thousand Years. 2005 (world premiere).

Essays

• Ridley, John. "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger." Esquire, December 2006, Volume 146, Issue 6.

Personal life

Ridley is married to wife Gayle, a former script supervisor.^[4][7] They have two children.^[14]

References

Further reading

• Gennusa, Chris R. "John Ridley: Burnt Noir." Creative Screenwriting. Winter 1997, v. 4 n.4, pp. 33–38

External links

• Archived pages of defunct official site: December 1, 2006 – March 1, 2007, January 8 – April 12, 2007, March 1 – August 28, 2007 (final archived page other than contact page).
• John Ridley at the Internet Movie Database