Robert O'Hara is a director and playwright. Woolly Mammoth Theater Group gave his play Antebellum its global premiere, earning him a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play. For its revival at La Jolla Playhouse, he revamped The Wiz. Insurrection: Holding History (Public Theater, Oppenheimer Prize for Best New American Play) was his first play, which he wrote and directed. He won an Obie Award for In the Continuum (Primary Stage/Perry Street Theater) and an NAACP Best Director Award for Eclipsed as a director.

He directed Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brother/Sister Plays (McCarter Theatre, The Public Theater) in its world debut, and he has also directed at Yale Repertory Theatre, Center Theatre Group, American Conservatory Theatre, Magic Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Goodman Theatre, and many more. Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jon Avnet, HBO, ABC, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, New Line/Fine Line Cinema, and Artisan Entertainment have all commissioned him to write films. He is the Mellon Playwright in Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.