Jason Russell

Jason Russell
Russell and Kristen Bell in 2009
Born	(1978-10-12) October 12, 1978 (age 38) El Cajon, California, U.S.
Residence	San Diego, California, U.S.
Alma mater	USC School of Cinematic Arts
Occupation	Film director, charity worker, activist
Known for	Kony 2012
Board member of	Invisible Children, Inc.
Spouse(s)	Danica Jones (2004–present)
Children	2

Jason Russell (born October 12, 1978) is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two weeks it gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the subject of media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to bring him to the International Criminal Court.

Russell is the younger son of Sheryl and Paul Russell, co-founders of Christian Youth Theater, which Russell was part of as a child. Russell discussed acting in an interview when he was 13 years old: "That was my life. It was what everybody around me did. I didn't even think about it. I did my first show at 8, and I have done over 20 plays since. You can't do this if you don't like it. You have to commit yourself to it."

Russell graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Russell, with Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, created the Invisible Children organization in 2003 after they "traveled to Uganda and witnessed children camping out in the city of Gulu to avoid being kidnapped into the militia in their villages." With camera equipment obtained from eBay, they went to Africa as student filmmakers but had no plan for the focus of their intended documentary. According to Russell, the trip was inspired by the 1993 death of Dan Eldon, who had been beaten to death while trying to document the ongoing famine in Somalia.

After Russell's group reached the Sudan their caravan was attacked by the Lord's Resistance Army, forcing a retreat to Northern Uganda. In Gulu, Russell and the others interviewed and videotaped children who had to commute to the city every night to elude raids by the LRA on their home villages in Acholiland. During filming, the three men contracted malaria, but omitted covering their illness so that the documentary would remain focused on the children. The footage they shot resulted in the original Invisible Children documentary draft, which was first screened in June 2004.