David Ayer (born January 18, 1968) is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption.

Ayer was born in Champaign, Illinois, on January 18, 1968, and grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Bethesda, Maryland, where he was kicked out of his house by his parents as a teenager.

"[8] Ayer's directorial debut was with the film Harsh Times, an action-drama set on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, showing how drug use and past military experiences affects people's attempts to lead normal lives.

Ayer later wrote and directed End of Watch, an action thriller about the daily lives of two South Central Los Angeles policemen, played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña.

On January 3, 2018, Netflix confirmed they were moving ahead with the sequel for Bright, with Smith and Edgerton reprising their roles and Ayer directing and writing the script with Evan Spiliotopoulos, the filming of which began in March 2019.

[15] This ultimately did not happen due to Will Smith's schedule, and on May 5, 2020, he was replaced with Louise Leterrier as David Ayer wanted to focus on The Dirty Dozen for Warner Brothers.

[22] In May 2022, Ayer signed on to direct action thriller The Beekeeper for Miramax, written by Kurt Wimmer and starring Jason Statham, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer later acquiring domestic distribution rights.

[23][24] In October 2023, it was announced that Ayer and Statham would reunite to work on Levon's Trade, from a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone, based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Dixon, with production expected to begin in March 2024.

[27] Ayer was later hired in October 2008 for Armored, the American remake of the 2004 French thriller Cash Truck with Andrew Kevin Walker as co-writer and F. Gary Gray to direct.

[29] In February 2009, Ayer was set to write the feature film adaptation of the Wired article "Deep Sea Cowboys," about a deep-sea salvage crew.

[36] Ayer was set to executive produce a television series adaptation of Stephen King's poem "The Bone Church" with Chris Long in February 2018.