David O. Russell is an American film writer, director, and producer, known for movies of comedic, dramatic, sometimes tragic characters whose love of life can surpass dark circumstances in very specific worlds. Often, the films deal with complicated families and emotions, beauty found in many different worlds from the ordinary to the unusual, including sociopolitical tales, and the worlds of mental illness.

Some of his most notable films include The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and American Hustle (2013). Other films include I Heart Huckabees (2004), Three Kings (1999), Flirting with Disaster (1996), and Spanking the Monkey, which won the Sundance Audience Award in 1994.

Jennifer Lawrence won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook (2012); Bale and Leo won best supporting actor and actress in The Fighter (2010). Russell is the only director to have two consecutively-released films (Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013)) garner Academy Award nominations in all four acting categories. Jennifer Lawrence earned an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe win for Best Actress for her work in Joy (2015).

Russell has been nominated for five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globes, and has won four Independent Spirit Awards and two BAFTA Awards. He has been nominated for three WGA awards and two DGA awards.

He has collaborated with actors Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, and Mark Wahlberg on three films each, Robert De Niro on four films; and Amy Adams on two.

Richard Brody of the New Yorker called 2022’s “Amsterdam,” “among the most emotionally committed and aesthetically distinctive films of the time… an exemplary piece of resistance cinema.” Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington headline the ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rami Malek, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Michael Shannon, Andrea Riseborough, and Taylor Swift.