John Ridley

John Ridley IV is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the anthology series American Crime. In 2017 he directed the documentary film Let It Fall: [Los Angeles 1982–1992].

Early life

Ridley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was raised from the age of seven in Mequon, Wisconsin, with an ophthalmologist father, John Ridley III, and a mother, Terry Ridley, who was a special education teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools. He has two sisters and is the middle sibling.
Ridley graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin in 1982. He enrolled in Indiana University but transferred to New York University. There, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in East Asian languages. The subject wasn't applicable to his career, but it sparked his intellectual interests. Ridley is Christian.

Career

Following college, Ridley spent a year living and traveling in Japan. Then, he returned to New York and began performing standup comedy in New York City, and he made appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Moving to Los Angeles in 1990, he began writing for such television sitcoms as Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The John Larroquette Show.
After both writing and directing his film debut, the 1997 crime thriller Cold Around the Heart, he and Oliver Stone co-adapted Ridley's first novel, Stray Dogs into the 1997 Stone-directed film U Turn, which was released slightly earlier than Cold Around the Heart. Ridley went on to write the novels Love Is a Racket and Everybody Smokes in Hell.
He challenged himself to see how quickly he could write and sell a script, and produced and sold the original screenplay Spoils of War in 18 days, which was later adapted into the 1999 David O. Russell-directed Three Kings. Russell claimed he did not read Ridley's script, and just took the idea. Ridley received a "story by" credit negotiated among himself, Russell, and the releasing studio, Warner Bros. Ridley then became a writer and a supervising producer on the NBC crime drama Third Watch. His other novels are The Drift, Those Who Walk in Darkness, and A Conversation with the Mann. He also wrote the graphic novel The American Way.
From 2000 to 2010, he was a commentator and blogger for NPR. His blog was Visible Man, a play on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. In 2003, Ridley inked a one-year overall deal with Universal Network Television.
His work as screenwriter also includes 12 Years a Slave, Red Tails, and Undercover Brother. His script for 12 Years a Slave won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making Ridley the second African American to win the award, after Geoffrey S. Fletcher.
In April 2015, Ridley was developing an ABC television series involving an existing Marvel Comics character. However, by December 2019, the project was cancelled due to Marvel Television folding into Marvel Studios. Ridley later revealed that his cancelled project would have been a version of Eternals, which was instead developed as an unrelated movie directed by Chloé Zhao.
On April 16, 2018, it was announced that Ridley would direct and write an adaptation of his graphic novel The American Way produced by Blumhouse Productions.
On June 4, 2018, it was announced that Ridley would direct a feature film adaptation of the Robert Silverberg short story, Needle in a Timestack produced by Bron Studios. The film featured performances from Leslie Odom Jr., Freida Pinto, Cynthia Erivo, and Orlando Bloom.
In 2021, Ridley began writing a number of series for DC Comics. The series include a new Batman series 'The Next Batman' as part of the company's line-wide event 'Future State', and a 5-issue series 'The Other History of the DC Universe' a text-based story about the history of the non-white, non-American DC heroes such as Black Lightning and Katana.
In May 2021, Marvel Comics announced that Ridley will write Black Panther comics.

Controversy

Ridley wrote an essay for the December 2006 issue of Esquire, "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger". As the Associated Press reported, Ridley's essay had an "in-your-face style to rip the black underclass", with readers criticizing "the fact that a black person had blasted other blacks. In a national magazine. With a mostly white audience. Using the n-word". In his essay, Ridley said: "It's time for ascended blacks to wish niggers good luck. Just as whites may be concerned with the good of all citizens but don't travel their days worrying specifically about the well-being of hillbillies from Appalachia, we need to send niggers on their way." Leonard Pitts called that passage "addled" and contrary to "historical fact". South Florida Sun-Sentinel columnist Sherri Winston compared the essay to Chris Rock's monologue "Niggas vs. Black People" and commented: "...where Rock was hailed, Ridley was assailed." The essay gained renewed attention in 2014 after Ridley won an Academy Award for 12 Years a Slave.
In December 2007, during the 2007–08 [Writers Guild of America strike|Writers Guild of America strike] against the major production studios, Ridley opted for legal status as a "union objector" or "fi-core," making him eligible to submit scripts to the studios while the strike was ongoing. In an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times, Ridley explained: "After 15 years of being told shut up, sit down and be part of the groupthink, I decided I did not belong in the guild. The guild has a way to option out. I took the option." Ridley's screenplay for 12 Years a Slave was thus ineligible for a Writers Guild of America Award.

Personal life

Ridley is married to wife Gayle, a former script supervisor. They have two children.

Legal issues

In April 2024, Asta Jonasson, an Asian American development executive, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging gender and racial discrimination, wrongful termination, and retaliation after she requested equal pay. The suit named John Ridley IV, The Walt Disney Company, and ABC Studios as defendants, claiming they failed to address systemic pay disparities and a hostile work environment during productions including American Crime.
Jonasson's complaint cited instances where Ridley allegedly dismissed concerns about hiring disparities, including a 2020 incident where Apple TV+ challenged him over exclusively selecting white male department heads for Five Days at Memorial. Ridley reportedly responded, "They have me," referring to his own identity as a Black man in a leadership role. Ridley's attorney denied the allegations as “false,” to Rolling Stone while Disney and ABC declined to comment. A jury trial is scheduled for February 23, 2026, in Department 51 of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Filmography

Television

Acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Episode
1993	Martin	Man with car	"Hollywood Swinging: Part 2"
1994	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Himself	"Will's Up a Dirt Road"
2016	Lady Dynamite	Himself	"White Trash"

Works and publications

Novels

Ridley, John. ' New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
Ridley, John. ' New York: Knopf, 1998.
Ridley, John. ' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.
Ridley, John. ' New York: Warner Books, 2002.
Ridley, John. ' New York: Knopf, 2002.
Ridley, John. Those Who Walk in Darkness New York: Warner Books, 2003.
Ridley, John, and Patricia R. Floyd. ' Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2011, 2007.

Graphic novels

Ridley, John, and Ben Oliver. ' La Jolla, CA: WildStorm Productions, 2004. 978-1-401-20070-1
Ridley, John. ' DC Comics. 2005.
Ridley, John, Georges Jeanty, and Karl C. Story. ' La Jolla, Calif: WildStorm/DC Comics, 2007.
Ridley, John, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, and José Villarrubia. ' DC Comics, 2021. ISBN 978-1-779-51197-3

Stage plays

Ridley, John. Ten Thousand Years. 2005.