David O. Russell

David O. Russell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born on August 20, 1958, in Larchmont, New York, Russell began his directing career with comedy films such as Spanking the Monkey (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999), and I Heart Huckabees (2004). He achieved critical success with The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and American Hustle (2013), earning him multiple Academy Award nominations. Russell's films have been both commercially successful and praised by critics. In addition to his directing work, he has also received a Golden Globe nomination for the comedy-drama Joy (2015). Russell was raised in a middle-class, atheist household, with his parents both working for Simon & Schuster.