Writer-director David Ward commenced his career in the fertile 1970s with screenplays for two star-driven comedies, Steelyard Blues (1973), with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, and The Sting (1973), the now-classic Robert Redford-Paul Newman starrer which won seven Academy Awards, one for Ward’s best original screenplay.
He subsequently wrote scripts for The Sting II (1983), Saving Grace (1985), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) - which Redford directed - finishing the decade with Major League (1989), which he also directed. Ward’s 1990s output is well remembered for the smash hit, Sleepless in Seattle (1993), co-written with director Nora Ephron. Other credits include King Ralph (1991) and Major League II, both of which he directed, along with Down Periscope (1996). In 2006, he and ‘Sting’ producer Tony Bill once again collaborated on Flyboys, starring James Franco.
Ward hails from Providence, Rhode Island. He attended Pomona College, the University of Southern California and UCLA Film School, graduating with an MFA degree. He is currently a professor at Chapman University in Orange County, California, where he teaches screenwriting and directing, and acts as a Filmmaker in Residence for the campus.
