House of Cards is an American political thriller web television series created by Beau Willimon.
 It is an adaptation of the BBC's miniseries of the same name and is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs.
 The thirteen-episode first season premiered on February 1, 2013, on the streaming service Netflix.
 Thirteen-episode seasons followed on February 14, 2014; February 27, 2015; March 4, 2016; and May 30, 2017.
 Willimon has stated that plans for the show's future are decided after each season.
Clifford "Cliff" Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval, is a fictional character from the popular American television series "Dallas".
 The Barnes family are competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family.
 Cliff is the son of Willard "Digger" Barnes and Rebecca Barnes, the brother of Pamela Barnes Ewing and the half-brother of Katherine Wentworth.
 J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman) was Cliff's personal nemesis, with Cliff and J.R. continuing on the bitter feud that started with their fathers, Digger Barnes and Jock Ewing, from their oil wildcatting days in the 1930s.
 Cliff and J.R. were the only two characters to appear throughout the entire run of the series.
 A running gag on the series is Cliff's fondness for Chinese take-out.
The Martian is a 2015 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel of the same name.
 Matt Damon stars as an astronaut who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on Mars.
 The film depicts his struggle to survive and others' efforts to rescue him.
 The film's ensemble cast also features Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, Aksel Hennie and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Adam Gregory Simon (born March 13, 1977) is an American actor and writer.
 He started his professional career as an actor in theatre with roles in the early 2000s and then made his television and film debut.
 Simon is the writer of "Man Down", a post-apocalyptic thriller directed by Dito Montiel which stars Shia LaBeouf, Kate Mara, Gary Oldman, Jai Courtney and Clifton Collins, Jr..
Happythankyoumoreplease is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Josh Radnor in his directorial debut.
 The film stars Radnor, Malin Åkerman, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Michael Algieri, Pablo Schreiber, and Tony Hale, and it tells the story of a group of young New Yorkers, struggling to balance love, friendship, and their encroaching adulthoods.
Peep World is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry W. Blaustein and starring an ensemble cast, including Ron Rifkin, Lesley Ann Warren, Ben Schwartz, Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Kate Mara, Judy Greer, Stephen Tobolowsky, Taraji P. Henson, and Alicia Witt.
 The story revolves around the Meyerwitz family causing trouble to each other after the youngest member reveals each others secrets in his novel.
 "Peep World" garnered a negative reception from critics.
Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress.
 She starred in the Netflix political drama "House of Cards" as Zoe Barnes and appeared in the Fox TV series "24" as computer analyst Shari Rothenberg.
 She made her film debut in 1999 with "Random Hearts".
 She appeared in "Brokeback Mountain" (2005), "We Are Marshall" (2006), "Shooter" (2007), "Transsiberian" (2008), "Stone of Destiny" (2008), "The Open Road" (2009), "Transcendence" (2014), "The Martian" (2015), "Morgan" (2016), and "Megan Leavey" (2017).
 She also appeared in the FX horror miniseries "American Horror Story" (2011) as Hayden McClaine and the superhero film "Fantastic Four" (2015) as Susan "Sue" Storm / The Invisible Woman.
Francis J. "Frank" Underwood is a fictional character and the protagonist/anti-hero of the American adaptation of "House of Cards".
 He is portrayed by Kevin Spacey.
 He is based on Francis Urquhart, the protagonist of the British novel and television series "House of Cards", from which the American Netflix series is drawn.
 He is married to Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), but also had a sexual relationship with Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) in season 1.
 He made his first appearance in the series' pilot episode, "Chapter 1".
Shooter is a 2007 American conspiracy action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua based on the novel "Point of Impact" by Stephen Hunter.
 The film follows Force Recon veteran Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), who is framed for murder by a rogue secret private military company unit.
 The film also stars Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty and was released in the United States on March 23, 2007.
Moonbeam City is an American adult animated television series that was created by Scott Gairdner, and starred the voices of Elizabeth Banks, Rob Lowe, Kate Mara and Will Forte.
 It premiered on Comedy Central on September 16, 2015.

Question: Who wrote the novel that is the basis of a television series that Kate Mara starred as Zoe Barnes in?
Answer: Michael Dobbs