John A. Kuri

John Anthony Kuri (born 1945) is an American author and screenwriter, film and television producer, director, and production designer. He is the son of set decorator Emile Kuri, who won Academy Awards for William Wyler's The Heiress (1949) and Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

John Kuri's literary works include Takin’ It Back (2005), a sports-themed novel. It is inspired in part by the Police Athletic League, a national volunteer staffed organization of over 80,000 off-duty police officers who mentor over two million teens annually, and further inspired by Kuri's work with the L.A. Sheriff's Department when he produced and directed officer survival training films and recruitment commercials and trained at the Sheriff's Academy qualifying as a marksmen on their pistol range. Kuri's historical novel Cheyenne Rising Sun (2004) tells the parallel stories of Morning Star—the legendary chief of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and his great grandson Ted Rising Sun, a Korean War veteran and tribal leader. The book was chosen for inclusion in the archives of the American Philosophical Society in 2018. Kuri's screenplay adaptation of the novel was honored with laurels from the 2024 Vail Film Festival Screenplay Competition. The Vail Screenplay Competition is a signature program of the Colorado Film Institute, producer of the annual Vail Film Festival, now entering its 21st year. Another sports-themed inspirational book of Kuri's is "ROD" (2008).