The first African American director to win an Academy Award for producing and directing a film and the first to also win an Academy Award in the category - Documentary Shorts, Roger Ross Williams is a writer, director, producer of films and television. Williams won an Academy Award in 2009 for his short documentary Music by Prudence. His 2013 documentary God Loves Uganda premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received several accolades.

Williams began his career in the 1990s: producing political satire for Comedy Central. He was also associated with Michael Moore`s Emmy Award-winning series TV Nation. As a director and producer, his credits include TV shows such as Time (2001), New York Underground (2003, also writer), Amazing Families (2006), and Tutu: The Essence of Being Human (2014).

In 2016, he produced and directed the documentary Life, Animated. The movie opened to positive reviews and won several awards including Best Direction and Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016.