Andrew Stevens

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Andrew Stevens (born Herman Andrew Stephens on June 10, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American actor and film producer. He is the son of Mississippi-born actress Stella Stevens and Noble Herman Stephens (who were married on September 1, 1954, and remained in wedlock until their marriage was dissolved two or three years later)[1].

In 1978, he married the actress Kate Jackson, but they divorced in 1980. He is currently married to Robyn Stevens, by whom he has three children.

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[edit] Career

Andrew Stevens, President/CEO of Andrew Stevens Entertainment and Stevens Entertainment Group, has produced and/or financed over one hundred and seventy films through his various production and distribution companies.[citation needed] Unique in the motion picture industry, Stevens has functioned in almost every capacity in the entertainment business, from creative development of motion picture stories and screenplays, to foreign sales, distribution, post-production, deliveries and collections. He is an accomplished screenwriter, director, as well as prolific producer, and was a successful actor for more than 20 years.

Andrew Stevens Entertainment and its subsidiary, Stevens Entertainment Group has been active since January of 2003 and has developed, produced and/or arranged the financing for more than twenty-five motion pictures, including 7 Seconds (2005) and The Marksman (2005), both starring Wesley Snipes, Black Dawn (2005), starring Steven Seagal, Pursued (2004), starring Christian Slater, Blessed (2004), starring Heather Graham, Method (2005), starring Elizabeth Hurley, Silent Partner (2005), starring Tara Reid.

From 1997 through 2002 Stevens co-founded, and served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Franchise Pictures, an independent film production and distribution company with a domestic theatrical output deal with Warner Bros.. During his five and a half tenure at Franchise, Stevens produced or executive produced and provided the finance or co-finance for more than 60 feature films including the enormously successful The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards (2004), both starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, The In-Laws (2003), starring Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks, Angel Eyes (2001) starring Jennifer Lopez and James Caviezel, 'The Art Of War (2000) starring Wesley Snipes, City By The Sea (2002), starring Robert De Niro, Driven (2001) and Get Carter (2000), both starring Sylvester Stallone, Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever (2002), starring Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas, Heist (2001), starring Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito, The Pledge (2001), starring Jack Nicholson, 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), starring Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell, and Half Past Dead (2002) starring Steven Seagal.

Stevens was also responsible for creating Franchise Classics, a division which produced and distributed many films which appeared in such major film festivals as Cannes, Sundance Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival including The Big Kahuna (1999), starring Kevin Spacey, Things you Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000), starring Cameron Diaz and Glenn Close, Green Dragon (2001), starring Forrest Whitaker and Patrick Swayze and The Caveman's Valentine (2001), starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Concurrent with the formation of Franchise, Stevens co-founded and served as president of a sister company, Phoenician Entertainment which produced such films as The Third Miracle (1999), starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche, Entropy (1999), starring Stephen Dorff and U2, Woman Wanted (2000), starring Kiefer Sutherland and Holly Hunter, and many genre action/adventure films.

Prior to Franchise and Phoenician, Stevens was an owner and president of Royal Oaks Entertainment, which produced and/or distributed seventy pictures over a three-year period including many HBO, Showtime and Sci-Fi Channel world premieres. Prior to Royal Oaks, Stevens’ entrée into foreign sales and production company ownership was with Sunset Films International, which amassed a library of nineteen titles, (including seven in-house productions) during his first year as president of the company.

Stevens serves on the board of directors of the International Film and Television Alliance, (the former American Film Marketing Association) and until recently served as Chairman of the Independent Producers Association (IPA), which is, among other things, active in collective bargaining for independent producers and film companies. Stevens has been involved in many guild negotiations with both the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) on behalf of the constituency of independent producers and was a key architect of the current DGA/IPA multi-tiered low-budget agreement.

Through 1993, Stevens was a successful award-winning actor, including a Golden Globe nomination and the Star of Tomorrow award from the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) starring in over 80 feature films and/or television series. He has directed nine motion pictures and a dozen episodic television shows. Additionally, Stevens is an accomplished writer, having written half a dozen feature films.

[edit] What he's doing now

Currently, Stevens is in post production on four new pictures, Walking Tall 2: The Payback (2006) and Walking Tall 3 (2007), both starring Kevin Sorbo for MGM, as well as Half Past Dead 2 (2007), starring former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, and Missionary Man (2007) directed by and starring Dolph Lundgren for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television (volume #7, ISBN 0-8103-2070-3 and ISSN 0749-064X)

[edit] External links