Alex Ross Perry (born July 14, 1984) is an American filmmaker and actor.

Early life

Perry was born to a Jewish family in 1984 and raised in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. I ...

, where he worked on a local television

news program News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...

during

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

.Renninger, Bryce J
FUTURES , "The Color Wheel" Director Alex Ross Perry Says Kim's Video Was Better Than NYU.

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

. After graduating, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

to attend NYU. He graduated from NYU's

film program A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

in 2006. From 2005 to 2007, Perry worked at the East Village-based video store

Kim's Video Kim's Video and Music is a now-defunct video and music retail store in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City, described as the "go-to place for rare selections" and "widely known among the cognoscenti of new, experimental and esoteric music ...

,Erickson, Steve
An Interview with Alex Ross Perry.
''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose pare ...

''. where he met many of the cast and crew members who would later work on his films, including

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Sean Price Williams. He was influenced by

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

,Lim, Dennis
Literary Influences, Personal Pathologies.
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.Stewart, Henry
Alex Ross Perry Names His Favorite Incest Movies.
''The L Magazine.'' Vincent Gallo,

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in pop culture, Lewis was nickn ...

, and

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), them ...

Career

Perry's first feature, '' Impolex'', premiered in 2009. Made on a budget of $15,000Impolex (2009)
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

. and shot on 16mm film stock, the film is an

absurdist comedy Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of sur ...

inspired by

's novel '' Gravity's Rainbow''. The film was released theatrically in 2011. Perry's second feature, ''

The Color Wheel ''The Color Wheel'' is a 2011 American independent film co-written, co-produced, edited, directed by and co-starring Alex Ross Perry. Perry co-wrote the film with Carlen Altman, who both also play the respective lead roles. A screwball black com ...

'', premiered at festivals in 2011. The film, a dark screwball comedy influenced by the work of Philip Roth, was co-written by Perry with Carlen Altman; the two also played the lead roles in the film. The film was named the best undistributed film of 2011 by the

Kohn, Eric
"The Color Wheel" Tops Indiewire's List of Best Undistributed Films; Other Films Tie For Top Spots.

. and ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

''Village Voice Film Poll 2011: Best Undistributed Film.
''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

.'' polls, and placed 12th in a similar poll conducted by ''

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

''.Film Comment's Best Unreleased Movies of 2011.
''

''. It was released theatrically on May 18, 2012. Perry's next film, a comedy titled '' Listen Up Philip'', premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

Kohn, Eric
"Spirit Nominee Alex Ross Perry Discusses New HBO Project 'The Traditions,' His Next Feature and Life After 'The Color Wheel'.

. in 2014. In 2015, Perry's fourth directorial effort was '' Queen of Earth'', which stars

Elisabeth Moss Elisabeth Singleton Moss (born July 24, 1982) is an American actor. She is known for her work in several television dramas, earning such accolades as two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, which led ''Vulture'' to name her the ...

Katherine Waterston Katherine Boyer Waterston (born March 3, 1980) is a British-American actress. She made her feature film debut in ''Michael Clayton'' (2007). She had supporting roles in films including '' Robot & Frank,'' '' Being Flynn'' (both 2012) and '' The ...

, Patrick Fugit,

Kentucker Audley Andrew Michael Nenninger (born November 13, 1981), known professionally as Kentucker Audley, is an American filmmaker and actor. He appeared on the 2007 ''Filmmaker Magazine'' list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He founded the independent f ...

, and Kate Lyn Sheil. It had its world premiere at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

on February 7, 2015. and was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

on August 26, 2015. In April 2015,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

hired Perry to write a live-action adaptation of the ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise, with the resulting '' Christopher Robin'' released to theaters in August 2018. He also optioned

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, perf ...

's '' The Names'' for a feature adaptation. In 2017 he directed the music video for Aly & AJ's single " Take Me" and in 2019 also directed the music video for the single Church for the same band. His films '' Golden Exits'' and '' Her Smell'' were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In 2022 he directed the music video for Pavement's single "

Harness Your Hopes "Harness Your Hopes" is a song by American rock band Pavement. It was originally recorded for the band's fourth studio album '' Brighten The Corners'', but was ultimately left off the final record by Stephen Malkmus. It later appeared on the CD ...

", "Bones" for Soccer Mommy and the long form mockumentary "Metal Myths: Ghost Pt. 2" for

Ghost A ghost is the soul (spirit), soul or spirit of a dead Human, person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visibl ...

Personal life

In 2016, after nine years of dating, Perry married visual artist Anna Bak-Kvapil. They have one child. Perry is a vegan.

Filmography

Acting credits Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Alex Ross 1984 births American film producers American male screenwriters Film directors from Pennsylvania Jewish American screenwriters Living people People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Tisch School of the Arts alumni Writers from Pennsylvania American film editors 21st-century American male writers