Known for Directing
David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has earned numerous accolades including two British Academy Film Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for five Academy Awards. Russell started his career directing the dark comedy films Spanking the Monkey (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999), and I Heart Huckabees (2004). He gained critical success with the biographical sports drama The Fighter (2010), the romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and the dark comedy crime film American Hustle (2013). The three films were commercially successful and acclaimed by critics, earning him three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, as well as a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Silver Linings Playbook and a Best Original Screenplay nomination for American Hustle. Russell received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for the semi-biographical comedy-drama Joy (2015). He also directed the comedic mystery thriller Amsterdam (2022). Across his career, Russell has been widely noted for combative and abusive behavior towards crew members and actors in his films, including documented incidents with George Clooney, Lily Tomlin, Amy Adams, Christopher Nolan, and Christian Bale. Description above from the Wikipedia article David O. Russell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
August 20, 1958 (age 68)
Birthplace
New York City, New York, USA
Filmography
48 films, 1 show


Madden
2026 · 1h 50m · US
Chronicles John Madden's incredible journey alongside best friend and true original Al Davis—from a Super Bowl-winning partnership with the Raiders, to becoming football’s most recognizable voice, to building the worldwide Madden NFL video game.


Amsterdam
2022 · 2h 14m · US
In the 1930s, three friends—a doctor, a nurse, and an attorney—witness a murder, become suspects themselves and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.


Joy
2015 · 2h 4m · US
A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs.


Accidental Love
2015 · 1h 41m · US
A small town waitress gets a nail accidentally lodged in her head causing unpredictable behavior that leads her to Washington, DC. Sparks fly when she meets a clueless young senator who takes up her cause - but what happens when love interferes with what you stand for?


American Hustle
2013 · 2h 18m · US
A conman and his seductive partner are forced to work for a wild FBI agent, who pushes them into a world of Jersey power-brokers and the Mafia.


Silver Linings Playbook
2012 · 2h 2m · US
After losing his job and wife, and spending time in an institution, a former teacher winds up living with his parents. He wants to rebuild his life and reconcile with his wife, but his father would be happy if he shared his obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. Things get complicated when he meets Tiffany Maxwell who offers to help him reconnect with his wife if he will do something very important for her in exchange.


The Fighter
2010 · 1h 56m · US
Boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.


I ♥ Huckabees
2004 · 1h 46m · DE
A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
Soldiers Pay
Soldiers Pay
2004 · 36m · US
From director David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) comes the controversial documentary chronicling the soldier's struggle with the current war in Iraq. Interviews with soldiers and with Iraqis who played extras in "Three Kings."


Three Kings
1999 · 1h 54m · US
A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.


Flirting with Disaster
1996 · 1h 33m · US
Adopted as a child, new father Mel Colpin decides he cannot name his son until he knows his birth parents, and determines to make a cross-country quest to find them. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and an inept yet gorgeous adoption agent, Tina, he departs on an epic road trip that quickly devolves into a farce of mistaken identities, wrong turns, and overzealous and love-struck ATF agents.


Spanking the Monkey
1994 · 1h 46m · US
Bright young student Raymond Aibelli is forced to sidetrack an important medical internship because his mother, Susan, is recovering from a broken leg. When he isn't tasked with the most mundane aspects of Susan's recuperation, Raymond finds distraction in a neighborhood girl, Toni Peck. But, as Susan begins relying on her son for both physical and emotional needs, Raymond starts developing disturbing and unwanted new yearnings.


Hairway to the Stars
1989 · 12m · US
The arms race goes to the beauty parlor with Bette Davis in The Letter.
Bingo Inferno: A Parody on American Obsessions
Bingo Inferno: A Parody on American Obsessions
1987 · 13m
An eccentric short on bingo terrorism in the wilds of mid-America.