Biography
Best known as the Oscar-winning producer of "12 Years a Slave" (2013) and "Moonlight" (2016), Dede Gardner was responsible for putting together critically acclaimed films as president of Plan B Entertainment. Although Plan B Entertainment was originally founded by Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Grey in 2002, Gardner was brought in when the founding trio split ways in 2006. Her first film under Plan B Entertainment was adapting Augusten Burroughs' memoir "Running with Scissors" into a film. Although it featured an impressive cast that included Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow, "Running with Scissors" (2006) was poorly received by critics. However, Gardner followed it up with a string of critically-acclaimed films that established Plan B Entertainment a top quality production company. She was nominated for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards for the war drama "A Mighty Heart" (2007) and in the following year she received her first Academy Award Best Picture nomination for Terence Malick's experimental drama "Tree of Life" (2008), which also starred Brad Pitt. Gardner continued to work with Pitt in her next three productions, all film adaptations of previous literary work. They filmed the neo-noir crime film "Killing Them Softly" (2012), followed by the summer blockbuster "World War Z" (2013), the zombie-infested horror flick based on the graphic novel of the same name. Later that year, Gardner and Pitt brought the historical drama "12 Years a Slave" (2013) to the big screen to near universal acclaim. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as an free African-American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, "12 Years a Slave" received numerous awards, including Gardner's first Oscar for Best Picture. Gardner followed that triumph with Ava DuVernay's civil rights drama "Selma" (2014), Adam McKay's comedy-drama about the 2008 financial meltdown "The Big Short" (2015) and supernatural TV drama "The OA (Netflix 2016). Gardner won her second Best Picture Oscar as producer of Barry Jenkins' drama "Moonlight" (2016).
