Alex Garland

Alexander "Alex" Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. He rose to prominence as a novelist in the late 1990s with his novel The Beach which received universal acclaim with many critics lauding Garland as a key voice of Generation X. He subsequently received praise for the screenplays of the films 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2011) and Dredd (2012). In 2015, Garland made his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a science fiction thriller which explored the relationship between mankind and artificial intelligence. Garland’s screenplay received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. 2Early life Alexander Garland was born on 26 May 1970 in London, England, the son of psychoanalyst Caroline (née Medawar) and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland, who has published cartoons for newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph and The Independent. His maternal grandparents were Peter Medawar and author Jean Medawar. Garland’s early aspiration was to become a journalist, noting “I didn’t intend to be anything. I thought I’d be a journalist. I grew up around journalists; for whatever reasons, a lot of my dad’s friends were foreign correspondents. I kind of thought that would be my job; hoped it would be my job.” He attended the University of Manchester and received his B.A. in History of Art in 199