Bob Norman Ross (born October 29, 1942 in Daytona Beach, Florida; died July 4, 1995 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida) was an American painter and television host.

With his calm, patient nature, Ross came to prominence as the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a long-running television program on public broadcast stations in the United States. Ross died of lymphoma at the age of 52.

Ross spent ten years keeping medical records for the U.S. Air Force, which is where he first started painting. After leaving the Air Force, he studied with William Alexander before becoming famous worldwide with his own television program.

He studied mechanics in college, and while he never studied at any upper-level design academies or fine arts schools, he did state once that he had attended art school "as a pup." Ross was known for his fondness for wildlife, including caring for orphaned squirrels and other little animals until they were old enough to take care of themselves.

Ross has a son Steven from his first marriage to Lydia. Steven occasionally appeared on The Joy of Painting and is a Bob Ross-certified instructor. Ross and Lydia's marriage ended in divorce in 1981. Ross married again, this time to Jane. Jane died of cancer in 1993.

Ross is best known as the host of the public television series The Joy of Painting, which ran from 1983 to 1995 and is still shown in reruns in many broadcast areas. During each half-hour segment, Ross would instruct viewers in the art of oil painting using a quick-study technique that kept colors to a minimum and broke paintings down into simple steps that anyone could follow.

Ross acknowledged that the appearances of the landscapes he painted (typically mountains, lakes, and snow and log cabin scenes) were strongly influenced by his years living in Alaska, where he was stationed for the majority of his Air Force career.

He repeatedly stated on the show his belief that everyone had inherent artistic talent and could become accomplished artists given time, practice, and encouragement, and to this end was often fond of saying, "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents."

Ross later founded his own successful line of art supplies and how-to books, and also offered painting classes taught by instructors trained in the "Bob Ross method".

When asked about his laid-back approach to painting and eternally calm and contented demeanor, he once commented: "I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news."

Ross also filmed wildlife footage, squirrels in particular, usually from his own garden. Small animals often appeared on his show, even during some of his trickier works, as he would often take in injured or abandoned squirrels and other assorted wildlife and look after them.