Brian Grazer

Brian Grazer
Grazer in 2011
Born	Brian Thomas Grazer (1951-07-12) July 12, 1951 (age 72) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Producer
Years active	1978–present
Spouses	Corki Corman ​ ​ (m. 1982;div. 1992)​ Gigi Levangie ​ ​ (m. 1997;div. 2007)​ Veronica Smiley ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	4
Relatives	Jack Dylan Grazer (nephew)
Awards	Academy Award for Best Picture A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. ^[1] Grazer was personally nominated for four Academy Awards for Splash (1984), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Frost/Nixon (2008). ^{[2] [3]} His films and TV series have been nominated for 47 Academy Awards and 217 Emmy Awards.

Contents

• Early life
• Education
• Career
• Personal life
• Filmography
• Film
• Television
• Additional awards
• References
• External links

In 2002, Grazer won an Oscar for Best Picture for A Beautiful Mind (shared with Ron Howard). In 2007, he was named one of Time 's "100 Most Influential People in the World". ^[4]

Early life

Grazer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Arlene Becker Grazer and criminal defense attorney Thomas Grazer. ^{[5] [6]} He is the older brother of Nora Beth Grazer (b. 1952) and actor/director Gavin Grazer (b. 1961). ^[7] He was raised in Sherman Oaks and Northridge, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. ^[6]

Grazer's father was Catholic and his mother is Jewish. ^{[5] [8] [9]} His parents divorced when he was in high school. ^[10] Grazer said "My best buddy, the most important person in my growing up, was my little 4-foot-10 [147 cm] Jewish grandmother, and she'd say, 'In order to get it, you got to do it. No one's going to get it for you, Brian.'" ^[5]

While in school, Grazer struggled with dyslexia. Grazer got through school by reading other students' papers and arguing his grades with his teachers. ^[11]

His nephew is actor Jack Dylan Grazer. ^{[12] [13]}

Education

Grazer won a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC) as a psychology major. He graduated from USC's School of Cinema-Television in 1974. ^{[6] [14]} He then attended USC Law School for one year, but quit in 1975 to pursue a life in Hollywood. ^{[5] [6] [10] [15]}

Career

Grazer began his career as a producer developing television projects. While executive-producing TV pilots at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, he met current long-time friend and business partner Ron Howard. ^[4]

He produced his first feature-film, Night Shift , in 1982, directed by Howard. ^[4] Grazer and Howard teamed up again for Splash in 1984, which Grazer produced and co-wrote. Splash earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1984. ^[4] Grazer went on to become an independent producer, teaming up with Tri-Star Pictures to set up plans for a film to star Richard Pryor, and had a continuing relationship with The Walt Disney Studios, and has plans to develop projects for Paramount Pictures. ^[16]

In November 1985, Grazer and Howard co-founded Imagine Entertainment, which became one of Hollywood's most prolific and successful production companies. Over the years, Grazer's films and TV shows have been nominated for a total of 43 Academy Awards, and 198 Emmys. At the same time, his movies have generated over $15 billion in worldwide theatrical, music, and video grosses. ^[4]

Grazer's early film successes include Parenthood (1989) and Backdraft (1991). ^[4] He produced Apollo 13 (1995), for which he won the Producers Guild of America's Daryl F. Zanuck Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture of 1995. ^[4]

In 1998, he earned two major honors: he was given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and made a cameo appearance on the animated series The Simpsons . ^[17]

In 2001, Grazer won an Academy Award for Best Picture for A Beautiful Mind , which also took home Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly), Best Director (Ron Howard), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman).

In 2002, Grazer's 8 Mile was released. ^[4] It proved not only to be a huge box office hit, but also the first film with a rap song to win a Best Original Song Oscar, for Eminem's "Lose Yourself". ^[18]

Grazer also produced the film adaptation of Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon (2008). Frost/Nixon was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. ^[4]

Grazer's productions span over a quarter-of-a-century, and almost the full spectrum of movie genres. His comedies include Boomerang (1992), The Nutty Professor (1996), Liar Liar (1997), Life (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018). He has also produced many dramatic thrillers including Inside Man (2006), The Da Vinci Code (2006), American Gangster (2007), Changeling (2008), Angels & Demons (2009), Robin Hood (2010), and Cowboys & Aliens (2011). His recently released films include J. Edgar , the Clint Eastwood-directed biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tower Heist , starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, and Restless , directed by Gus Van Sant.

Grazer's Imagine Entertainment's television series include Sports Night , Felicity , Arrested Development , 24 with Kiefer Sutherland, Friday Night Lights , Parenthood , Lie to Me , Empire , Genius: Einstein , Genius: Picasso and Wu-Tang: An American Saga . ^[4]

Grazer's recent productions includes Rebuilding Paradise , Dads, the 2017 Grammy awarding winning Best Music Film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016), American Made (2017), Rush (2013), directed by Ron Howard, and starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, ^[19] and Made in America .

Grazer produced Get on Up , a biopic of the legendary "Godfather of Soul" James Brown, and In the Heart of the Sea , directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, about the American whaleship the Essex . ^[20]

In 2015, Grazer published his book A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life, a #1 NY Times Bestseller, in which he discusses conversations with interesting people, many of whom inspired his work. ^[21] In 2019, Grazer released his second book Face To Face: The Art of Human Connection.

In January 2024 it was announced that Scar Tissue , the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis, singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will be turned into a theatrical movie with Grazer, Kiedis and Guy Oseary producing the film for Universal Pictures. ^[22]

Personal life

Grazer has been married three times: Corki Corman (1982–92; they have two children), and novelist and screenwriter Gigi Levangie (1997–2007; they have two sons). ^{[6] [17]} In April 2014, Grazer became engaged to Veronica Smiley, chief marketing officer of SBE, a hotel management company. ^[23] They married on February 20, 2016. ^[24]

Grazer currently resides in Santa Monica, California. ^[25] He also has a home in Hawaii on Sunset Beach, on the Banzai Pipeline on O'ahu's North Shore. ^{[26] [27]} He is a keen user of jump ropes. ^[28]

Filmography

Additional awards

• 1998 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries for From the Earth to the Moon
• 2001 – Producers Guild of America's David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures ^[4]
• 2003 – ShoWest Lifetime Achievement Award ^[4]
• 2004 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for Arrested Development
• 2006 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for 24
• 2007 – Named one of Time Magazine 's "100 Most Influential People in the World" ^[4]
• 2008 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program for Curious George
• 2009 – Producers Guild of America Milestone Award, together with Ron Howard ^[4]
• 2009 – New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Big Apple Award, together with Ron Howard ^[4]
• 2010 – Simon Wiesenthal Center Humanitarian Award, together with Ron Howard ^[4]
• 2010 – Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program for Curious George
• 2011 – MPSE 2011 Filmmaker Award ^[4]
• 2017 – Grammy Award for Best Music Film for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week
• 2019 – Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award

Related Research Articles

Ronald William Howard is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six decade career, Howard has received two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2013. Howard has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions in film and television.

Splash is a 1984 American romantic fantasy comedy film directed by Ron Howard, from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, and Bruce Jay Friedman, and a story by Friedman and producer Brian Grazer. The film stars Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, and Eugene Levy. Its plot involves a young man who falls in love with a mysterious woman who is secretly a mermaid. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Backdraft is a 1991 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro, Jason Gedrick, and J. T. Walsh, and follows Chicago firefighters on the trail of a serial arsonist.

Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written and illustrated by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original book series.

Imagine Entertainment, also known simply as Imagine, is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard.

Curious George is a 2006 animated adventure film based on the book series written by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey. It was directed by Matthew O'Callaghan, written by Ken Kaufman and produced by Ron Howard, David Kirschner, and Jon Shapiro. Featuring the voices of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, and Dick Van Dyke, it tells the story of how the Man with the Yellow Hat, a tour guide at a museum, first befriended a curious monkey named George and started going on adventures with him around the city while attempting to save the museum from closure.

Philip Alexander Gibney is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, Esquire magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time."

Marc "Babaloo" Mandel is an American writer and producer. He first wrote episodic television comedy, then later began writing feature films and theatre. He and long-time writing partner Lowell Ganz wrote numerous high-profile films including Splash (1984), Parenthood (1989), City Slickers (1991), and A League of Their Own (1992).

Mikael Salomon is a Danish cinematographer, director and producer of film and television. After a long cinematography career in Danish cinema, he transitioned to the Hollywood film industry in the late 1980s, earning two Academy Award nominations. He is also a television director whose credits include dozens of series, films and miniseries including Band of Brothers, Salem's Lot, Rome, and The Andromeda Strain. His awards and nominations include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award.

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and produced by Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, with Mischer also serving as director. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the ninth time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 76th ceremony held in 2004.

Pen Densham is a British-Canadian film and television producer, writer, and director, known for writing and producing films such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and television revivals of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, as well as writing, producing and directing MGM's Moll Flanders.

Charlie Corwin is an American media executive and a producer of numerous movies and television series. He currently serves as CEO of SK Global, an independent content studio. In 2022, Centricus, the London-based private equity bank, acquired a majority stake in SK Global. 

Todd Darren Lieberman is an American film and television producer. He founded Hidden Pictures Media in 2022 and won an Emmy for Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers in 2022. He co-founded Mandeville Films and Television with David Hoberman in 2002. Mandeville has produced several notable films, including The Fighter, which won two Academy Awards in 2010, and for which Lieberman was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.

Ron Howard is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.

Michael Rosenberg is an American film industry executive and producer. is the Co-Chair of Imagine Entertainment, founded by Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer and Oscar-winning director Ron Howard.

Tony Krantz is an American film and television producer, writer, and director. Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, spending 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). He started there as a mailroom trainee and rose to eventually run the primetime television department, where he personally packaged the television series ER, Twin Peaks,Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and The West Wing, among many others. He also put together the movies The Doors and Wild at Heart. Under his leadership at CAA, there were 32 shows on the primetime lineup that the agency represented when Krantz left to start the next part of his career. Krantz transitioned into producing television, and was one of three founders of Imagine Television, serving as its co-chairman and CEO. There he produced Felicity, Sports Night, The PJs, 24 and the movie Mulholland Drive. Krantz left Imagine in 2002 to pursue his path as a film and television director and writer. He has since directed three films, Sublime, Otis, and The Big Bang, and is currently the principal and owner of the independent production company Flame Ventures.

The Robert Langdon franchise consists of American action-adventure mystery-thriller installments, including three theatrical films directed by Ron Howard, and a television series. The films, based on the novel series written by Dan Brown, center on the fictional character of Robert Langdon. Though based on the book series, the films have a different chronological order, consisting of: The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016), all starring Tom Hanks as Langdon, alongside different ensemble casts. Despite mixed-to-negative critical reception, the films are considered box office successes, having a combined gross total of $1.5 billion worldwide.

The following is a list of unproduced Ron Howard projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Ron Howard has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Grazer .

• Imagine Entertainment
• Brian Grazer at IMDb