Roger Ross Williams

Roger Ross Williams, born September 16, 1962, is an acclaimed American director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his versatile career spanning multiple broadcasting platforms. Williams is recognized especially for his standing as the first African American director to win an Academy Award (Oscar); he achieved this feat with his short film Music by Prudence, which bagged the award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2009. Williams' professional journey began in 1985 when he started producing political satire for Comedy Central and Michael Moore's Emmy Award-winning series TV Nation. To date, he has produced and directed for reputed networks like NBC News, MSNBC, BBC, CNN, and worked for Comedy Central, Food Network, TLC, VH1, to name a few.

In his illustrious career, Williams helmed numerous films. His documentary, Life, Animated, won the Sundance Film Festival Directing Award, the Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2018, and also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film. He has repeatedly highlighted societal issues through his works, such as American Jail which scrutinizes the U.S. prison system, and Traveling While Black, a virtual reality documentary project for Facebook’s Oculus. Currently, his first feature film for Amazon Studios is in pre-production, and his production company, One Story Up, is busy with various projects including a documentary series for Netflix. Williams has also committed to empowering other filmmakers, serving on several advisory boards and diversifying the documentary scene.