Alan Ball

Alan E. Ball is an American writer, director, actor and producer for film, theatre and television.He is particularly notable for writingAmerican BeautyandTrue Bloodand for creatingSix Feet Under, work which earned him an Academy Award, an Emmy, and awards from theWriters,Directors, andProducersGuilds.Ball was born inMarietta,Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time.He attended high school inMarietta, and went on to attend theUniversity of GeorgiaandFlorida State University, from which he graduated in 1980 with a degree intheater arts.After college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company inSarasota, Florida. Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on thesituation comediesGrace Under FireandCybill. Ball has written two films,American Beauty(1999) andTowelhead(2007), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of theHBOdrama seriesSix Feet UnderandTrue Blood.He wasshowrunnerforTrue Bloodfor its first five seasons. In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novelThe Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of DeathbyCharlie Huston, to be titledAll Signs of Death.In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production onAll Signs of Death. He is also one of the executive producers of theCinemaxseriesBanshee. In January 2015, it was announced that Ball's period musical dramaVirtuosohad had a pilot ordered byHBO. The pilot will be executively produced byElton John. Confirmed actors to be starring in the show includePeter Macdissi,Iva Babic,Francois Civil,Lindsay Farris,Nico MirallegroandAlex Lawther.For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including anAcademy Award, anEmmyaGolden Globe, and awards from theWriters,Directors, andProducersGuilds.