Megan Ellison

Early life and education Ellison was born in Santa Clara County, California, the daughter of Oracle Corporation co-founder and chairman, multibillionaire Larry Ellison, and his ex-wife, Barbara Boothe Ellison. She has a brother, film producer David Ellison, who founded Skydance Media. Ellison graduated from Sacred Heart Preparatory in 2004 and attended film school at the University of Southern California for one year.

Career Initial film work Her first film credit was as a boom operator for the short film When All Else Fails, a thriller written and directed by her brother David Ellison. Ellison then began to finance low-budget movies such as Waking Madison and Passion Play.

Transition to production Ellison started out in the film business in 2006 when she contacted Katherine Brooks, the writer and director of Loving Annabelle, about investing in the filmmaker's next movie. The duo made plans for Waking Madison, starring Elisabeth Shue, which told the story of a woman who tries to cure her multiple personality disorder by locking herself in a room without food for 30 days. Ellison financed the film that was reported to have a budget of $2 million. Principal photography took place in 2007. It screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2011 and went straight to DVD in July of that year.

Ellison provided some financing for more movies in 2008 and 2009. The first was Main Street starring Colin Firth. It received little attention at film festivals and failed to gain general release. Passion Play, also made in 2009, got a release but fared poorly at the box office despite a well-known cast of popular actors. However, her investment in the Coen brothers western remake True Grit paid off as that movie found major commercial and critical success when released at the end of 2010. It was named for the Annapurna Circuit she hiked in Nepal in 2006. Annapurna is backed by Ellison's billionaire father.

In 2011, Ellison outbid Lionsgate for the rights to the Terminator franchise. Ellison would then make a deal with her brother David Ellison so his Skydance Productions produced Terminator Genisys, where Megan only had an executive producer credit.

In 2014, Ellison became the first woman and the fourth person to receive two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture in the same year, which she received for her work on Her and American Hustle.

In December 2016 Annapurna Pictures launched its video game division Annapurna Interactive which became well known for its publishing of critically acclaimed Indie games in the late 2010s and early 2020s including What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, and Neon White.

In 2019, Ellison lived in Lanai and remained there during the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2021, her former chief of distribution Erik Lomis approached Ellison regarding purchasing Nimona, a project about to be cancelled with the closure of its production company Blue Sky Studios. She liked the footage and the film's LGBT elements, and agreed to acquire the project, establishing an Annapurna Animation division and hiring studio DNEG Animation to complete Nimona, eventually released by Netflix in 2023.

In September 2024 one month after announcing a partnership with Remedy Entertainment, Annapurna Interactive's then workforce of 25 people resigned following a dispute surrounding negotiations to spinoff the company from Annapurna Pictures. Ellison ultimately pulled out during negotiations after the two sides failed to reach an agreement, leading to the resignations. Further attempts to reengage Ellison on the spin-off did not receive interest.

Personal life Ellison is openly lesbian. She owns a number of motorcycles. Additionally, she is a competitive equestrian, having trained at the Wild Turkey Farm in Woodside, California, and riding in the North American Young Rider Championships in 2004.

Filmography Executive producer

Passion Play (2010) True Grit (2010) Killing Them Softly (2012) Spring Breakers (2012) The Grandmaster (2013) Terminator Genisys (2015) Downsizing (2017) The Sisters Brothers (2018) If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Wounds (2019) Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019) Hustlers (2019) Bombshell (2019) Kajillionaire (2020) House of Gucci (2021) She Said (2022) Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023) Nimona (2023) Nightbitch (2024) The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) I Love Boosters (2026)

Producer

Waking Madison (2010) Main Street (2010) Catch .44 (2011) Lawless (2012) Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Her (2013) American Hustle (2013) Foxcatcher (2014) Joy (2015) Wiener-Dog (2016) Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) Sausage Party (2016) The Bad Batch (2016) 20th Century Women (2016) Detroit (2017) Phantom Thread (2017) In 2018, Ellison won the Woman in Motion Award at Cannes Music Festival.