Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the 2016 Oscar-winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He wrote the screenplay for the film High Flying Bird which premiered on Netflix directed by Steven Soderbergh and wrote the 2019 US television series David Makes Man for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network, produced by Michael B Jordan and Page Fright Productions.

Tarell’s plays include Ms. Blakk For President (co-written with Tina Landau), The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy, Head of Passes, Wig Out!, and Choir Boy which was nominated for four Tony Awards.

He is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, the Whiting Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, the Evening Standard Award, the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Windham Campbell Award, and a USA Artist Award.

Tarell is currently Chair of Playwriting at Yale School of Drama; an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago; and a member of Teo Castellanos/D-Projects. He has recently been named as the next artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse, a prominent theatre in Los Angeles