Writing

Alan Ball

Born May 13, 1957 · Atlanta, Georgia, USA (age 69)

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…

Known For

American Beauty

American Beauty · 1999

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Uncle Frank

Uncle Frank · 2020

In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's funeral, they're unexpectedly joined by Frank's lover Walid.

Towelhead

Towelhead · 2008

A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks · 2017

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

MovieDramaHistory

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

The American Tetralogy

The American Tetralogy · 2012

The American Tetralogy

Entirely made in California, the film brings together 30 American and European actors in an epic which crosses the mythical territories of that cinematic land from Zabriskie Point to Mulholland Drive. California is revisited through the movie memories incarnated by the very presence of famous actors and actresses. "The American Tetralogy" is a way of staging reality which questions the fictional nature of the movies.

Virtuoso

MovieDramaMusic

A group of aspiring musicians in 18th-century Vienna come from all over Europe to attend a prestigious musical academy.

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress · 2015

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress

Based on the play by Alan Ball

True Blood

True Blood · 2008

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed overnight from legendary monsters to fellow citizens. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides. But in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Filmography

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American Beauty

American Beauty · 1999

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Writer

Uncle Frank

Uncle Frank · 2020

In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's funeral, they're unexpectedly joined by Frank's lover Walid.

Writer

Towelhead

Towelhead · 2008

A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.

Director

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks · 2017

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

MovieDramaHistory

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

Executive Producer

The American Tetralogy

The American Tetralogy · 2012

The American Tetralogy

Entirely made in California, the film brings together 30 American and European actors in an epic which crosses the mythical territories of that cinematic land from Zabriskie Point to Mulholland Drive. California is revisited through the movie memories incarnated by the very presence of famous actors and actresses. "The American Tetralogy" is a way of staging reality which questions the fictional nature of the movies.

Producer

Virtuoso

MovieDramaMusic

A group of aspiring musicians in 18th-century Vienna come from all over Europe to attend a prestigious musical academy.

Director

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress · 2015

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress

Based on the play by Alan Ball

Writer

True Blood

True Blood · 2008

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed overnight from legendary monsters to fellow citizens. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides. But in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Director

Banshee

Banshee · 2013

SeriesCrimeDrama

Banshee is an American drama television series set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country and features an enigmatic ex-con posing as a murdered sheriff who imposes his own brand of justice while also cooking up plans that serve his own interests.

Executive Producer

Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under · 2001

When death is your business, what is your life? For the Fisher family, the world outside of their family-owned funeral home continues to be at least as challenging as—and far less predictable than—the one inside.

Writer

Cybill

Cybill is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre, which aired on CBS from January 2, 1995, to July 13, 1998. Starring, Cybill Shepherd, the show revolves around the life of Cybill Sheridan, a twice-divorced single mother of two and struggling actress in her 40s, who has never gotten her big show business break.

Writer

Grace Under Fire

Grace Under Fire · 1993

Grace Under Fire

Grace Kelly is a tough woman with kids to raise. A recently divorced recovering alcoholic, Grace struggles with the pressures of being a single mother supporting three children. Grace doesn't always handle situations with, well, grace, but she does get results.

Director

Here and Now

Here and Now · 2018

A provocative and darkly comic meditation on the disparate forces polarizing present-day American culture, as experienced by the members of a progressive multi-ethnic family — a philosophy professor and his wife, their adopted children from Vietnam, Liberia and Colombia and their sole biological child — and a contemporary Muslim family, headed by a psychiatrist who is treating one of their children.

Director

Oh, Grow Up

Oh, Grow Up · 1999

Producer

A Drop of True Blood

A Drop of True Blood

A Drop of True Blood

Creator