Biography

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. McKay began his career in the 1990s as a head writer for the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for two seasons and is the co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade. He rose to fame in the 2000s for his collaborations with comedian Will Ferrell and co-wrote his comedy films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay later co-wrote and co-produced numerous television series and films, and produced their comedy website Funny or Die through their company Gary Sanchez Productions.

Venturing into more dramatic territory in the 2010s, McKay's The Big Short was the first film he directed without Ferrell in the cast. For this film, he was nominated for several awards including two Academy Awards, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (with co-writer Charles Randolph), and two British Academy Film Awards, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He and Randolph won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, the BAFTA Film Awards, and the WGA Awards. For his work on the Dick Cheney biographical film Vice, McKay received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. In 2019, McKay founded Hyperobject Industries.