Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe covered music and culture as a journalist for publications such as Rolling Stone, Playboy, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Los Angeles Times. His first book Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the nonfiction study of a year in the life of a California high school, became a best seller, and his subsequent screenplay was nominated for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium by the Writers Guild of America. His other film credits include the smash hit Jerry Maguire, nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. Crowe’s screenplay also received the PEN Literary Award and a Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film. He next penned Conversations with Wilder, a heralded collection of interviews with the legendary director Billy Wilder. The book was published by Knopf in November 1999. (Wilder, with tongue firmly in cheek, declared it “the best book I’ve ever read.”)

Almost Famous, released in September 2000, was the culmination of a 10-year process to put Crowe’s experiences working for Rolling Stone on film. The movie received four Golden Globe nominations and four Academy Award nominations and won two Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical as well as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Kate Hudson). Crowe was also awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. He was Tony-nominated with Tom Kitt for Best Original Score for Almost Famous: The Musical.

His other film credits include his directorial debut, Say Anything…; Singles, Vanilla Sky; Elizabethtown; and We Bought a Zoo. His documentary work includes Elton John’s The Union and Pearl Jam Twenty. Most recently, Crowe produced the acclaimed documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, which debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. He is currently prepping his next feature film, based on the life and music of the legendary artist Joni Mitchell.