Fred Olen Ray was born in Ohio, but grew up in Florida. He claims to have a large family tree and be distantly related to Queen Elizabeth. He began directing and producing films in 1978. He directed several films in Florida, including Alien Dead with film legend Buster Crabbe, then moved to Southern California to be close to the film industry.
Many of his early productions appeared at Drive-in theaters and inner-city grindhouses, when those outlets for low budget films were still significant. Some of Ray's productions have received theatrical releases. Most of his current output, however, is released directly to DVD or appears on cable television channels such as Showtime, Cinemax, and HBO. Ray has directed over 100 films and is still going strong.
Ray is the head of Retromedia, which releases DVDs of both his own productions and archival films. He has also worked for other well-known independent studios and on a few occasions for major Hollywood studios.
