A four-time Academy Award nominee and the son of Oscar-nominated screenwriter Arthur A. Ross, Gary Ross` illustrious Hollywood career as a writer-director and producer spans well over three decades. He started out as a screenwriter with the fantasy comedy Big (1988), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay that year. Following this, Ross landed his second Oscar nomination in the same category with the political comedy Dave in 1994.

In 1998, he made his directorial debut with the fantasy comedy-drama Pleasantville, which recounted the story of two siblings who find themselves transported to the world of a 1950s sitcom. The film received much critical acclaim upon its release, and earned Ross a Saturn Award nomination for Best Writer that year. Ross` sophomore directorial outing, the sports film Seabiscuit (2003), also opened to much critical acclaim and was nominated for seven Academy Awards that year, including Best Picture and Best Writing. In 2012, the writer-director helmed the sci-fi adventure film The Hunger Games, which grossed around $700 million at the box office and won the Best Feature Film Award at the BAFTA Children`s Award in the same year.

Among the celebrated filmmaker`s more recent works are the historical period war drama Free State of Jones (2016) and the heist comedy Ocean`s 8 (2018), the latter of which is a spin-off from the Ocean`s Trilogy directed by Steven Soderbergh.