David Ellison

Last updated

David Ellison
Born (1983-01-09) January 9, 1983 (age 42)
Santa Clara County, California, U.S.
Education University of Southern California (attended)
Occupations
  • Film producer
  • actor
Years active2005–present
TitleChairman & CEO, Paramount Skydance Corporation (2025–present)
Founder of Skydance Media
Spouse
Sandra Lynn Modic
​
(m. 2011)​
Children2
Parents
Family Megan Ellison (sister)

David Ellison (born January 9, 1983) is an American film producer serving as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Paramount Skydance since August 2025. He is the son of Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, a centibillionaire.

Contents

He founded Skydance Media in 2006, and served as its CEO until 2025, and has produced the films, including Terminator Genisys (2015), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Life (2017), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022), with the latter nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

An ally of Donald Trump, Ellison made conservative-friendly changes to CBS News after the second Donald Trump administration approved the merger of Skydance and Paramount Global in 2025. [1] Later that year, Ellison launched a hostile bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, while giving assurances to Trump that he would make sweeping changes to CNN if the merger went ahead. [2]

Early life and education

Ellison was born on January 9, 1983, in Santa Clara County, California. He is the son of billionaire Oracle Corporation co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison and his ex-wife, Barbara Boothe Ellison. His father is of Italian and Jewish heritage. [3] Ellison grew up in Woodside, California, with his mother, who nurtured his love for film. [4] He attended Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California, but dropped out of its film school in 2005 to fund a movie with his family's money, Flyboys, a box-office bomb. [5] [6] Ellison was influenced by businessman Steve Jobs, a friend of his father, and pitched Jobs his idea for Skydance Media before revising it under Jobs' advice. [4] He has one sister, film producer Megan Ellison, who founded Annapurna Pictures. [3]

Larry Ellison was not a day-to-day presence in David Ellison's early life. [7]

Career

Ellison's career starting in acting. His father Larry heavily financed his first major film as an actor, “Flyboys”. [7] It was widely considered a failure. [7] Ellison also acted in Little Fish, Strange Pond, and Hole in One before giving up his acting ambitions and going into the business side of the entertainment industry. [7]

Larry provided substantial investment into David's media company Skydance Media. [7] The company's films include Mission: Impossible – Fallout , Annihilation , World War Z , True Grit , Jack Reacher , Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Beyond . Ellison was named to Variety 's Dealmaker list for 2010 [8] and the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2011. [9] Ellison was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for Top Gun: Maverick . Ellison's company Skydance Media expanded in 2013 with the launch of its television division. He has executive-produced shows such as Altered Carbon and Grace and Frankie . In 2014, Ellison launched a new line of men's clothing called the "LANAI Collection." [10] In 2017, Ellison helped launch Skydance Animation in partnership with Spain's Ilion Animation Studios. In 2019, Ellison hired the former Pixar CCO John Lasseter to run Skydance Animation. [11]

Paramount Skydance Corporation

In January 2024, it was reported that Ellison was interested in merging Skydance Media with Paramount Global and buying the latter's parent company National Amusements from Shari Redstone. [12] The merger received approval from the FCC under the second Donald Trump administration in July of 2025. The merger was completed by August 7, 2025, and Paramount Skydance Corporation was formed. Ellison serves as Chairman and CEO of the merged company. [13] Following the merger, Ellison made conservative-friendly changes at CBS News, hand-picking Bari Weiss as its editor-in-chief. [1] [7] Shortly in her tenure, Weiss controversially held a 60 Minutes story on the Trump administration's deportations to Venezuela from being aired on CBS. [7]

Ellison sought to hinder a merger of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2025 that Ellison had given assurances to President Donald Trump that if Paramount were allowed to buy Warner, he would make sweeping changes to CNN, the news channel that Trump has frequently criticized. [2] Ellison worked with three sovereign wealth funds owned by Middle-Eastern governnents, as well as Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, to finance a competing bid for Warner. [2] Defying historical precedent of non-involvement in mergers, Donald Trump personally involved himself in the merger evaluation. [14]

Ellison has been described as an ally of Donald Trump. [1] Trump has boasted about his friendship with David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison. [14]

Personal life

He married Sandra Lynn Modic, an actress and singer, on October 1, 2011, in Palm Springs, California. [15] They have two children. [16]

Ellison is a licensed pilot with instrument ratings for helicopter aviation, aerobatics, commercial aviation, fixed-wing aircraft, and multi-engine aircraft. In 2003, aged 20, he was selected to perform as part of Sean D. Tucker's "Stars of Tomorrow" aerobatic team at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. [17]

Ellison and his father are close associates of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [7]

Ellison is a member of the Producers Guild of America and Television Academy. [18]

Filmography

Film

Executive producer

Producer

Actor
YearFilmRoleNotes
2005 The Chumscrubber Student #1
When All Else FailsMike WilliamsShort film
2006 Flyboys Eddie Beagle
2009 Hole in One Tyler Hayden
Little Fish, Strange Pond RomeoDirect-to-video
Director
YearFilmNotes
2005When All Else FailsShort film
Writer
YearFilmNotes
2005When All Else FailsShort film
Thanks
YearFilmNotes
2013 Phantom Special thanks

Television

Executive producer
Actor
YearTitleRoleNotes
2008Blank SlateBlake FeltzerTelevision film
2010 Leverage Ballard

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ellison offers personal guarantee for son's Warner Bros bid". Le Monde. December 22, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Andrews, Joe Flint, Brian Schwartz and Natalie (December 9, 2025). "Behind Paramount's Relentless Campaign to Woo Warner Discovery and President Trump". The Wall Street Journal.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 Matthew Symonds, Larry Ellison. Software: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle Simon and Schuster, 2004. pp332-333
  4. 1 2 "David Ellison's journey from trust fund kid to media mogul vying to buy Paramount". Los Angeles Times. April 22, 2024. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  5. ↑ Fritz, Ben, "Ellison: more than a trust fund kid?", Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2011.
  6. ↑ Masters, Kim, "How David Ellison, Son of Larry Ellison, Scored Big With 'True Grit'" Archived April 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine , Hollywood Reporter, March 1, 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "A Father, a Son and Their $108 Billion Push for Media Moguldom". New York Times. 2025.
  8. ↑ Lowry, Tom. "Paramount-Skydance deal: Dealmakers Impact Report 2010", Variety.com, December 9, 2010.
  9. ↑ Dorothy Pomerantz, Michael K. Ozanian, and David M. Ewalt. "Forbes 30 Under 30" Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , "Forbes.com", December 19, 2011.
  10. ↑ Bort, Julie (December 4, 2014). "Larry Ellison's Son Launches A Clothing Line Inspired By His Dad's Hawaiian Island". Business Insider. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  11. ↑ McNary, Dave (March 16, 2017). "David Ellison's Skydance Launching Animation Division With Spain's Ilion". Variety. Archived from the original on August 29, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. ↑ "David Ellison Makes Offer for Redstone Family's Media Empire". Bloomberg.com. January 24, 2024. Archived from the original on January 25, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  13. ↑ FCC Approves Skydance's Acquisition of Paramount CBS [ permanent dead link ]
  14. 1 2 Spangler, Todd (December 16, 2025). "Trump Blasts the Ellisons Amid Their Warner Bros. Bid: 'If They Are Friends, I'd Hate to See My Enemies!'". Variety.
  15. ↑ "Tom Cruise Wedding Dance Battle...Caught On Tape". TMZ . June 10, 2011. Archived from the original on May 30, 2022. Tom and Katie were in Palm Springs this weekend celebrating the wedding of Sandy Modic and David Ellison.
  16. ↑ Farah, Lynn (March 21, 2024). "Meet Larry Ellison's Hollywood children, David and Megan: the heirs to the Oracle co-founder's billion-dollar fortune are nepo babies in film, but remain largely behind-the-scenes". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on October 18, 2024.
  17. ↑ EAA News Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine ; accessed October 26, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Execs Archive". Skydance Media. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  19. ↑ Schneider, Michael (February 27, 2025). "Bill Nighy Joins Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham in Amazon Prime Video Action Series 'Ride or Die' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
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