John Ridley is an American film director, actor, and writer. Ridley got his start as a stand-up comedian. He eventually was hired as a writer for sitcoms such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Martin. He began to concentrate on writing and wrote his first novel Stray Dogs which became the basis the 1997 film U-Turn, directed by Oliver Stone. Ridley also provided the original script for the film Three Kings, starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube. But his script was changed so much by director David O. Russell that he only received a credit for the original story. He also tried his hand at directing with the film Cold Around the Heart. He is one of the creators of blank">Urban Entertainment, showcasing short films and animation from minority filmmakers, including his own works: the animated cartoons _Undercover Brother (the basis for the film starring comedian Eddie Griffin) and Those Who Walk in Darkness, featuring the voice of rapper Lil' Kim — which itself was the basis of a novel of the same name written by Ridley. Ridley was a regular panelist on the MSNBC daily morning show Morning Joe, and was an occasional guest on the network's recently cancelled nightly program Scarborough Country. He hosted the short-lived Movie Club with John Ridley on American Movie Classics and has written The Authority and The American Way for DC Comics. He has recently become a regular guest commentator on American Public Media's Weekend America in a segment called "Good News, Bad News, No News" which reviews the week's news. He co-produced the film Bobby. He wrote the play Ten Thousand Years about kamikaze pilots in World War II. On the weekend of August 19, 2006, John co-hosted the syndicated program Ebert & Roeper while film critic Roger Ebert was on medical leave. On August 28, 2007, it was announced that George Lucas hired him to pen the script for his upcoming World War II film Red Tails.

John Ridley (26 May 1806 – 25 November 1887) was an English/Australian farmer and inventor of a threshing machine.

Friends don't let friends watch bad movies.

So many movies... so little time...

John Ridley (I) is the author of seven published novels, the most recent, What Fire Cannot Burn from Warner Books and The Drift from Knopf. His first novel, Stray Dogs, was made into the feature film U Turn (1997) directed by Oliver Stone (I) and starring Sean Penn (I), Jennifer Lopez (I), and Nick Nolte. Additionally, Ridley wrote the screenplays for the films Undercover Brother (2002) and Cold Around the Heart (1997) and wrote the story for Three Kings (1999). He is a playwright as well and in 2005 produced the world premiere of his first play, Ten Thousand Years. Ridley is also a commentator for National Public Radio and a regular contributor to "California Connected" (2002), an award-winning, news magazine which airs throughout California on 12 Public Television stations. He was the host of "Movie Club with John Ridley" (2004) on AMC, a unique movie review program with a panel of critics. Ridley also wrote, directed, and produced the popular TV show, "Barbershop" (2005) formerly on Showtime.