# Monty Ross

Monty Austin Ross (born March 7, 1957) is an American film producer and director. He is the co-founder of 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks alongside Spike Lee and has produced, She's Gotta Have It (1986), School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992) and Crooklyn (1994).

## Early life

Monty Austin Ross was born on March 7, 1957, in Omaha, Nebraska, the second child of Gladys Ross (née Drew; 1932–1999), a social worker and Ewing Ross (1923–1970), a minister and owner of a hardware store.

## Filmmaking

Ross is a highly acclaimed independent filmmaker who co-produced films with Spike Lee, with whom he co-founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. They first met at Morehouse College as freshman. After class, Ross found himself enjoying Clark College, now Clark Atlanta University. It was there Ross was involved in theatre with the Clark College Players under the direction of Joan Lewis, Department Chair of Theatre Arts who prepared her students and the CC Players for the world of professional theatre with a stern, but caring approach. Ross, “She was demanding, a true leader. She taught as all the many ins and outs of becoming professional artists. She demanded that we leave a legacy of excellence that encouraged others to be productive. I love and respected her.” Both took mass media courses and were student members of a film club known as the AUC Newsreel. They perfected their film writing and production skills while Spike was enrolled in nearby Morehouse College and Monty later continued his studies at Bishop College in Dallas, Texas (defunct) and finally graduated from CAU. Ross appeared in Lee's master's degree thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. He co-produced many films with Lee through the 1980s and 1990s, including She's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X,Crooklyn and Clockers.
Following the production of Clockers, Ross independently completed several works. Among the film projects he served as a lead on, were as producer of Keep the Faith, Baby, a biopic about Adam Clayton Powell Jr. He also produced Escaping Jersey and directed Reasons during this period.
On rejoining 40 Acres, Ross became the coordinator for the company's community outreach programmes, recruiting interns to assist with the production of Inside Man. Ross has completed work with Spike Lee on the "She's Gotta Have It TV Spin-off of the movie that he co-produced. Ross is also a college professor, serving as an adjunct professor, lecturer and frequent guest speaker at universities including VCU, Old Dominion, Clark Atlanta, and Florida A&M University.
In 2019, Ross directed The Opera Game, set in the 19th century in New Orleans, LA. The film won the Filmmakers Choice award at the 2019 San Diego Black Film Festival.
Since 2017 Ross has served as the President of Operations for Soulidifly Productions. Currently, he is serving as the Filmmaker-in-Residence at Ours Studios LLC, a Decatur, GA-based film production company that is releasing its first historical documentary, "As If We Were Ghosts." The 60-minute documentary debuted June 2022 on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Ours Studios is a Black-owned and financed company that produces film and documentaries as well as offers a wide range of production services and spaces. In addition, its state-of-the-art studios rentals are designed to make audio, video and livestreams for podcasts and vlogs and has two converted warehouses dedicated for film, video and photography productions. “As If We Were Ghosts” is about how the athletic and musical accomplishments of students in Black high schools in Georgia were ignored and erased from history. Today, Ross continues developing projects for content creation available on all platforms. Additionally, he continues to share his thoughts about his experiences in the film industry and offer suggestions to others about their experiences or career paths at suite57.com. Over the last ten years he’s picked up the hobby of painting. An avid watercolorist he’s looking forward to exhibiting his work suite57.com. Ross highly recommends emerging filmmakers explore their immigration first to make their content. He believes that “after all, AI technologies shouldn’t have all the fun of discovering new and exciting ways to tell your audience about stories that are exciting to you. Take the opportunity and share your own creative ideas.”

## Theatre

As well as filmmaking, Ross was also involved with Atlanta Street Theatre, where he spent some of his early career as an actor.

## Personal life

Ross was born in Omaha, Nebraska, his parents divorced when he was young. He was married to Carol Rossand Jeanette Roberts-Ross.