James Gray (film director)

James Gray
Gray at the Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles on March 5, 2010
Born	1969 (age 47–48) New York City,United States
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1994–Present
Spouse(s)	Alexandra Dickson (m. 2005) (3 children)

James Gray (born 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter.

Gray was born in New York City. He is of Russian Jewish descent, with grandparents from Ostropol. His father was once an electronics contractor. Gray attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where his student film, Cowboys and Angels, helped him get an agent and the attention of producer Paul Webster, who encouraged him to write a script which he could produce.

In 1994, at age 25, Gray made his first feature film Little Odessa, a film starring Tim Roth about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown, "Little Odessa," a section of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The film won the Silver Lion at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.

In 2000, Miramax released his second film, The Yards, a crime drama shot in 1998. His third film, We Own the Night, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, played in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in May, receiving widely divergent reviews from international critics. We Own the Night was released theatrically in the US on October 12, 2007.

In November 2012 he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2012 International Film Festival of Marrakech.