--- name: "Gary Ross" canonical: "https://film.one/person/gary-ross" fi1m_id: "gary-ross" imdb_id: "nm0002657" tmdb_id: 23964 wikidata_id: "Q598675" roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"] born: "3 November 1956" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-22T21:18:23.498409+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Gary Ross ## Identity Gary Ross - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/gary-ross - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** gary-ross - **IMDb ID:** nm0002657 - **TMDB ID:** 23964 - **Wikidata ID:** Q598675 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ross, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q598675, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002657/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23964 Writer and director. Born 3 November 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer - **Born:** 3 November 1956, Los Angeles, California, USA - **Active:** 1988–2018 - **Also known as:** Гэри Росс - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 writing - **Frequently works with:** [Elizabeth Banks](https://film.one/person/elizabeth-banks.md) - **Academy Awards:** 4 Oscar nominations - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 81 (1), 2000s 65 (1), 2010s 65 (2) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ross, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q598675, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002657/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23964 ## Coming up - *Untitled Ocean's Prequel* (2027-06-23), Executive Producer ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*Big*](https://film.one/film/big.md) (81) - **Netflix:** [*The Hunger Games*](https://film.one/film/the-hunger-games.md) (70) - **Apple TV:** [*Seabiscuit*](https://film.one/film/seabiscuit.md) (65) - **HBO Max:** [*Ocean's Eight*](https://film.one/film/oceans-eight.md) (60) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Gary Ross > Gary Ross writes warm, decent, well-carpentered films about Americans finding their nerve, and directs them with a care that sometimes stops them moving. The screenplays are the real work; the best of them, *Big*, someone else directed. Debbie Ocean walks out of prison at the start of *Ocean's Eight* (2018) with a plan already in her head, and the film follows her through the recruiting, the rehearsal and the night itself in the order you would expect. Nothing is out of place. The people are likeable, the heist is neatly built, and the camera stands at a respectful distance while the cast enjoy themselves. That is the Gary Ross habit. We thought a caper could not afford to be careful, and careful is what he is. He began as a writer, and it is as a writer that he has done his best work. *Big* (1988), written with Anne Spielberg, gave Penny Marshall and Tom Hanks a premise that could have been a sketch and made it a whole film. *Dave* (1993), a political comedy in the Capra line, followed. Then he started directing his own scripts: *Pleasantville* (1998), in which a black-and-white town turns to colour as its people begin to break the rules; *Seabiscuit* (2003), from a non-fiction book; *The Hunger Games* (2012), written with the novelist Suzanne Collins; *Free State of Jones* (2016); and *Ocean's Eight*, written with Olivia Milch. A Ross screenplay rests on a decent idea, decently worked out. He likes a technical conceit that carries a moral, the colour in *Pleasantville* above all, and he likes an underdog with a country's hopes on its back. He prefers to shoot things for real where he can. What he is less sure of is pace. The consensus on *The Hunger Games* was that the handheld camera and quick cutting made it hard to tell where anyone was; *Free State of Jones* was widely found long, its story spread across several eras without much shape. In *Ocean's Eight* he went the other way and stood still. Soderbergh's *Ocean's Eleven* (2001) got away with low stakes because it moved. Ross's does not move, and the low stakes show. *Big* is still the one we would hand to a stranger. Hanks plays a man who does not know how adults are supposed to behave and gets the uncertainty exactly right, and we were more moved than we expected to be. Then we were slightly cross, because the script is so sure that childhood has the better of the argument that it never lets a grown-up make a case. That is the Ross weakness in its earliest form: the warmth is real, and it is not to be argued with. So the pattern is a writer of sound construction and real kindness who, handed the whole film, tends to hold it too gently. Marshall knew what to do with his best script, and it shows. If you have not seen *Big*, see it. If you have, *Pleasantville* is the one of his own that critics return to most, and its conceit is the kind of idea he has always been best at. ## Biography Gary Ross is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Born on 3 November 1956 in Los Angeles, California, he is the son of screenwriter Arthur A. Ross. He attended the University of Pennsylvania but did not graduate. After writing a novel and working on political campaigns, Ross co-wrote his first produced screenplay, *Big* (1988), with Anne Spielberg. Ross wrote the screenplays for *Dave* (1993), *Lassie* (1994) and *Mr. Baseball* (1992). He made his directorial debut with *Pleasantville* (1998), which he also wrote and produced. He later directed and wrote *Seabiscuit* (2003), *The Hunger Games* (2012) and *Ocean's Eight* (2018), and wrote and directed *Free State of Jones* (2016). He has received four Academy Award nominations. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Directed (3) - *Ocean's Eight* (2018), Fi1m 60, Director, Screenplay, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eight.md) - *The Hunger Games* (2012), Fi1m 70, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunger-games.md) - *Seabiscuit* (2003), Fi1m 65, as Pimlico Track Announcer — [page](https://film.one/film/seabiscuit.md) ### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these - *Big* (1988), Fi1m 81, Writer, Co-Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/big.md) ## Complete filmography (17) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Untitled Ocean's Prequel* (2027), Executive Producer - *Late Night* (2019), Thanks - *Ocean's Eight* (2018), Director, Screenplay, Story — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eight.md) - *Free State of Jones* (2016), Writer, Director, Producer - *The Hunger Games* (2012), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunger-games.md) - *The Tale of Despereaux* (2008), Producer, Screenplay - *Ocean's Twelve* (2004), Thanks — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-twelve.md) - *Seabiscuit* (2003), as Pimlico Track Announcer · Producer, Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/seabiscuit.md) - *Pleasantville* (1998), Director, Screenplay, Producer - *Trial and Error* (1997), Producer - *The Misery Brothers* (1995), as Redwood Stump - *Lassie* (1994), Writer - *Dave* (1993), as Policeman #2 · Writer - *Mr. Baseball* (1992), Screenplay - *Big* (1988), Co-Producer, Writer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/big.md) - *Will*, Writer, Director - *Old Time Hockey*, Writer, Director ## Gallery - ![Gary Ross](https://film.one/media/person/119225/gallery-a71afa0eee2f.jpg) Gary Ross — Image via TMDB - ![Gary Ross](https://film.one/media/person/119225/gallery-e26d595e1661.jpg) Gary Ross — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 4 nominated - 2004: Best Picture (nominated), for *Seabiscuit* - 2004: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Seabiscuit* - 1994: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Dave* - 1989: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Big* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/gary-ross