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 language, Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, Radnor Township and Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township in Delaw ...

, 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 List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He graduated from NYU's film program 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 mus ...

,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 par ...

''. 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 Sean Price Williams is an American cinematographer. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, he is based in New York. Career Williams is known for his textured, fluid camerawork (often handheld) and a heightened attention to available light. The ''New Yor ...

. 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 Vincent Gallo (born 1961) is an American actor and director. He has had supporting roles in films such as ''Arizona Dream'' (1993), ''The House of the Spirits'' (1993), ''Palookaville'' (1995), and '' The Funeral'' (1996). His lead roles include ...

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 popular culture, pop culture ...

, 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, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

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, ...

. and shot on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

film stock, the film is an absurdist comedy inspired by

's novel ''

Gravity's Rainbow ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is a 1973 novel by American writer Thomas Pynchon. The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, ...

''. The film was released theatrically in 2011. Perry's second feature, '' The Color Wheel'', premiered at festivals in 2011. The film, a dark

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

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 newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

''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 newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

.'' 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 ''Listen Up Philip'' is a 2014 comedy-drama film written and directed by Alex Ross Perry. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014, and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2014 Locarno International Film Fe ...

'', 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, 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 fest ...

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 Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...

'' 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 ''Her Smell'' is a 2018 American drama film written, co-produced and directed by Alex Ross Perry. It stars Elisabeth Moss, Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Dylan Gelula, Virginia Madsen and Amber Heard ...

'' were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In 2022 he directed the music video for Pavement's single " Harness Your Hopes", "Bones" for Soccer Mommy and the long form mockumentary "Metal Myths: Ghost Pt. 2" for

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead 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 visible wispy shapes, to re ...

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