Ben York Jones (born February 11, 1984) is an American screenwriter and film actor best known for writing and co-starring in '' Like Crazy'' (2011) which won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2011

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 46,66 ...

Early life and career

Though born on the east coast, Jones grew up in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. He attended Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California and graduated with a BFA in Film Production from

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

in 2006. In 2010, the feature film '' Douchebag'' premiered in Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Jones starred in and co-wrote the film, though he was given an associate producer credit in lieu of a writing credit. Following the film's premiere, Jones and long time friend

Drake Doremus Drake Doremus (born March 29, 1983) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing the films ''Like Crazy'' (2011), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, '' Douchebag'' (2010) which ...

began conceiving ''Like Crazy''. Both he and Doremus had been through similar long-distance relationships, which served to inform the film's plot. Following ''Like Crazy'', Jones co-wrote the film ''

Breathe In Breathe In may refer to: * ''Breathe In'' (Lucie Silvas album), 2004 ** "Breathe In" (song), a 2005 song by Lucie Silvas * ''Breathe In'' (Phillips, Craig and Dean album), 2012 * ''Breathe In'' (film), a 2013 film by Drake Doremus {{disam ...

'' which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In the summer of 2016, production wrapped on Jones' adapted screenplay entitled ''

Ashes in the Snow ''Ashes in the Snow'' is a World War II drama film based on ''The New York Times'' best selling novel ''Between Shades of Gray'' by Ruta Sepetys. The film is a coming-of-age tale of a young teenager named Lina who, with her mother and younger b ...

''. The film is based on

Ruta Sepetys Ruta Sepetys ( lt, Rūta Šepetys; born November 19, 1967) is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. As an author, she is a ''New York Times'' and international bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal. She is a Rockefeller Foun ...

' ''New York Times'' Bestseller ''

Between Shades of Gray ''Between Shades of Gray'', a ''New York Times'' Best Seller, is the debut novel of Lithuanian-American novelist Ruta Sepetys. It follows the Stalinist repressions of the mid-20th century and follows the life of a teenage girl Lina as she is de ...

''. Jones changed the title to avoid any possible confusion with the vastly dissimilar Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. In 2017, Jones wrote ''

Newness ''Newness'' is a 2017 American romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus from a screenplay by Ben York Jones. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Laia Costa, Courtney Eaton, Danny Huston and Esther Perel. The film had its world premiere at the Sund ...

'', directed by Doremus, which had its world premiere at the

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ben York 1984 births American male screenwriters Living people Film directors from California Male actors from Orange County, California People from Englewood, New Jersey Male actors from New Jersey Film directors from New Jersey Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from New Jersey