Born

September 08, 1952 (1952-09-08) (age 54)

Santa Monica, California

Occupation

Film director, former stuntman

Career milestones

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Cellular (2004)

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

David Richard Ellis (born September 8, 1952 in Santa Monica, California) is an American film director and a former stuntman.

Ellis began his career in the film industry as a supporting actor in juvenile roles; his big screen debut was in the 1975 Kurt Russell film The Strongest Man in the World. One year later, he switched to stunts in the film Baby Blue Marine and worked from then on as a stuntman. His next career move came in 1981 with the promotion to stunt coordinator. After a successful five years in this position, he worked from 1986 on as an assistant director or Second Assistant Director, in charge of action sequences from films such as Matrix Revolutions and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

In 1996, he made his debut as a director with the family film Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. He attained more attention as director of his next film, Final Destination 2, the continuation of the financially successful Final Destination series.

His next work as director, the thriller Cellular, was a moderate success at the box office, which Ellis attributed to competition from Resident Evil and bad marketing.

In 2006, his next film appeared, the thriller Snakes on a Plane, which gained unusual hype on the Internet.