James Ponsoldt was raised in Athens, Georgia, received his bachelor’s degree from Yale, and received an MFA in directing from Columbia University. His first feature, Off the Black, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006; in 2009, he co-wrote the award-winning graphic novel, Refresh, Refresh (selected by Alison Bechdel for “The Best American Comics 2011”); his second film, Smashed, won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2012, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for lead Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and went on to critical acclaim worldwide. The Spectacular Now received a Special Jury Prize at the the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, and was released in theaters via A24 Films. The End of The Tour premiered at Sundance 2015, was released by A24 Films, and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Ponsoldt also directed the pilot of the Netflix series Master of None, The Circle (starring Emma Watson, John Boyega, and Tom Hanks), and is currently in production on the new TV series Sorry For Your Loss (Facebook’s first major series, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Kelly Marie Tran). He has multiple features in development with A24, Disney, Plan B, and Fox.
