Roger Ross Williams

Roger Ross Williams is an Oscar, Emmy, Peabody, and NAACP Image award-winning director, producer, and writer –and the first African American director to win an Academy Award ®, with his film MUSIC BY PRUDENCE. Williams directed LIFE, ANIMATED, which won him the Sundance Directing Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award ® and won three Emmys. Williams is the recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association, The Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Award, The NYU Alumni Achievement Award, and an honorary doctorate from Lafayette College.

His production company One Story Up produced the acclaimed food series HIGH ON THE HOG, an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, the Ben Crump documentary CIVIL, the award-winning film MASTER OF LIGHT, and the Primetime Emmy award-winning feature documentary THE APOLLO. Williams’ first scripted feature CASSANDRO from Amazon Prime Video had its World premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival to universal acclaim. He also released THE SUPERMODELS for Apple TV+, STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING, based on the book by Ibram X. Kendi, for Netflix, and the Emmy award-winning series THE 1619 PROJECT for Disney/Hulu. Williams is currently in development on his second feature film STRANGE ARRIVALS starring Demi Moore and Colman Domingo for See-Saw Films.