Alex Garland is one of Hollywood's most acclaimed screenwriters, producers and directors. He first rose to fame in 1996 as a novelist, writing the book that would later inspire "The Beach" (2000) starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tilda Swinton, and directed by Danny Boyle. After writing the novels "The Tesseract" (1998) and "The Coma" (2004), Garland pivoted into scriptwriting, where his credits include "28 Days Later" (2002) and "Sunshine" (2007). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for the film "Ex Machina," which also served as his directorial debut. He later went on to direct "Annihilation" (2018) starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Issac, and the topical action film "Civil War" (2024) starring Kirsten Dunst. More recently, Garland directed the A24 war film, "Warfare" (2025).