Bed-ridden in early childhood, Ron Bass taught himself to read at the age of three and produced several short stories by age six. At 17, he completed a novel. Now Academy Award-winner Ron Bass is one of the film industry's preeminent screenwriter-producers.

Mr. Bass's writing prowess, coupled with a keen interest in political science, led him from Stanford to a Woodrow Wilson fellowship at Yale. Immediately following graduation from Harvard Law School, Mr. Bass pursued a career in entertainment law, rising to prominence as a partner, most recently at the firm of Armstrong and Hirsch.

Mr. Bass's passion for writing, however, compelled him in 1974 to return to the novel he had written as a teenager. Writing in the early morning, prior to the rigorous schedule he maintained as an attorney, Mr. Bass reworked the early novel. It was eventually published as The Perfect Thief. His books Lime's Crisis and The Emerald Illusion followed in quick succession. With Mr. Bass attached as the writer, the film rights to The Emerald Illusion were optioned. Shortly thereafter he began to field writing assignments from the studios, and when attached to seven deals, he left his law practice to devote his full-time attention to writing.

Mr. Bass received an Academy Award for Best Writing for his work on the screenplay of the highly acclaimed 1988 film Rain Man, which was directed by Barry Levinson and starred Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Rain Man received a total of eight Oscar® nominations and won four Academy Awards, including an Oscar® for Best Picture.

Other feature films written or co-written by Mr. Bass include My Best Friend's Wedding, The Joy Luck Club, When a Man Loves a Woman, Waiting to Exhale, Stepmom, Entrapment, Sleeping with the Enemy, What Dreams May Come, Snow Falling on Cedars, Dangerous Minds, Gardens of Stone, Black Widow, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Passion of Mind, The Lazarus Child, and Code Name: Emerald. More than half of the above-mentioned films were either produced or executive produced by Mr. Bass. He has also done uncredited writing on numerous films.

Ron Bass's television work includes the TV movie Swing Vote and the TV series Dangerous Minds and Moloney.

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