James Gray (born April 14, 1969; New York City) is an American film director and screenwriter. Gray was born in New York City and grew up in the neighborhood of Flushing. He is of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, with grandparents from Ostropol, Western Ukraine. The original family name was "Grayevsky". His father was once an electronics contractor. Gray attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where his student film, Cowboys and Angels, helped him get an agent and the attention of producer Paul Webster, who encouraged him to write a script which he could produce. As a child growing up in Queens, New York, Gray aspired to be a painter. However, when introduced in his early teenage years to the works of various filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola, Gray's interests expanded to the art of filmmaking. The Yards returned Gray to Queens where the story takes place.

In 1994, at age 25, Gray made his first feature film "Little Odessa" (1994), a film starring Tim Roth about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown, "Little Odessa," a section of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The film won the Silver Lion at the 51st Venice International Film Festival. Miramax Films released James Gray's second feature, "The Yards" (2000) starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, Charlize Theron and James Caan in fall of 2000. The film was selected for official competition at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. His next film "The Immigrant" (2013) was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In October 2016, Gray's film "The Lost City of Z" (2016) premiered at the New York Film Festival. The film, based on the book by David Grann, depicts the life of explorer Percy Fawcett, played by Charlie Hunnam. Gray first confirmed his plans to write and direct sci-fi space epic "Ad Astra" (2019) on May 12 during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. On June 17, 2020, it was officially confirmed that his next film, titled "Armageddon Time" (2022), would be a coming-of-age drama story of loyalty and friendship against the historical backdrop of Ronald Reagan's presidential election loosely based on Gray's childhood memories, with Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Strong cast in the film.

詹姆斯·格雷（1969年4月14日出生;New York City）是美国电影导演、编剧。格雷出生于纽约市，在法拉盛附近长大。他有乌克兰犹太血统，祖父母来自乌克兰西部的奥斯特罗波尔。最初的姓氏是“格雷耶夫斯基”。他的父亲曾经是一名电子承包商。格雷就读于南加州大学电影艺术学院，在那里他的学生电影《牛仔与天使》帮助他找到了经纪人，并引起了制片人保罗·韦伯斯特的注意，后者鼓励他写一个他可以制作的剧本。作为一个在纽约皇后区长大的孩子，格雷渴望成为一名画家。然而，当他在青少年时期接触到包括弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉在内的各种电影制作人的作品时，格雷的兴趣扩展到了电影制作艺术。The Yards 将 Gray 送回了故事发生的皇后区。

1994 年，25 岁的格雷拍摄了他的第一部故事片《小敖德萨》（1994 年），这部电影由蒂姆·罗斯主演，讲述了一名杀手在回到他的家乡“小敖德萨”后与弟弟对峙，这是布鲁克林布莱顿海滩的一部分。该片获得第51届威尼斯国际电影节银狮奖。米拉麦克斯电影公司于2000年秋天发行了詹姆斯·格雷的第二部长片《院子》（2000年），由马克·沃尔伯格、华金·菲尼克斯、菲·邓纳威、艾伦·伯斯汀、查理兹·塞隆和詹姆斯·凯恩主演。这部电影被选为2000年戛纳国际电影节的官方竞赛单元。他的下一部电影《移民》（2013）获得了2013年戛纳电影节金棕榈奖提名。2016年10月，格雷执导的电影《失落的Z城》（2016）在纽约电影节首映。这部电影改编自大卫·格兰恩的书，描绘了查理·汉纳姆饰演的探险家珀西·福塞特的生活。格雷于 2016 年 5 月 12 日在戛纳电影节期间首次确认了他编剧和执导科幻太空史诗《Ad Astra》（2019 年）的计划。2020 年 6 月 17 日，官方确认他的下一部电影名为“世界末日”（2022 年），将是一部关于忠诚和友谊的成长剧故事，背景是罗纳德·里根总统大选的历史背景，松散地基于格雷的童年记忆，安妮·海瑟薇、安东尼·霍普金斯和杰里米·斯特朗出演这部电影。