James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and musician. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s. He then began working as a director, starting with the horror-comedy film Slither (2006), and eventually moving to the superhero genre with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), its sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and The Suicide Squad (2021). He also wrote and directed the web series James Gunn's PG Porn (2008–09), the superhero film Super (2010).
James Gunn was born in St. Louis, Missouri to parents Leota and James F. Gunn, an attorney. He was raised between St. Louis and Manchester, Missouri. He has five siblings: actor Sean, actor and political writer Matt, screenwriter Brian, Patrick, and Beth. He is of Irish and Jewish heritage. Gunn has stated that his family's surname was originally the Irish name MacGilgunn and that it means "sons to the servants of the god of the dead"; it means "son of the brown one".