Born James Richard Kelly, son of Lane Kelly and Ennis Kelly. Grew up in Midlothian, Virginia. 1997 Graduate of University of Southern California, where he studied Film. Received only $9,000 to write and direct Donnie Darko (2001) with a budget of 4.5 million dollars. Two of his favorite films are Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Mad Max 2 (1981). He has posters for them in his house. His father worked for NASA on the Mars Viking Lander program in the 70s, developing the camera that made the first pictures from the Mars surface. Wrote an unproduced script for Hal Lieberman and Jonathan Mostow's production company called "House at the End of the Street". Originally wrote the screenplay for the movie Holes (2003) but after it was turned down, they had Louis Sachar do it instead. Kelly's script can be found on his website. He was originally offered the chance to direct Valentine (2001), but turned the offer down.
