Richard Kelly

Richard Kelly (born March 28, 1975) is an American film director and writer, best known for 2001's Donnie Darko. Kelly was born James Richard Kelly in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Lane Kelly and Ennis Kelly. He grew up in Midlothian, Virginia where he attended Midlothian High School. When he was a child his father worked for NASA on the Mars Viking Lander program. He won a scholarship to Southern California to study at the USC School of Cin... more

Richard Kelly (born March 28, 1975) is an American film director and writer, best known for 2001's Donnie Darko. Kelly was born James Richard Kelly in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Lane Kelly and Ennis Kelly. He grew up in Midlothian, Virginia where he attended Midlothian High School. When he was a child his father worked for NASA on the Mars Viking Lander program. He won a scholarship to Southern California to study at the USC School of Cinema-Television where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He made two short films at USC, The Goodbye Place and Visceral Matter, before graduating in 1997. Kelly received only $9,000 to write and direct his film, Donnie Darko in 2001 and was given a budget of just $4,500,000. This was his first feature and was nominated for 21 small awards and won 11 of them including a nomination for a Saturn Award. At the age of 25 he was considered too young to be a professional screenwriter and director. He from there entered into Harvard law... less