| Mike Medavoy | |
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Medavoy at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival |
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| Born | January 21, 1941 Shanghai, China |
Morris Mike Medavoy (born January 21, 1941) is an American film producer and executive, co-founder of Orion Pictures (1978), former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists (1974–1978) and current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures.
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Medavoy was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 to Russian-Jewish parents, and lived in Chile from 1947 to 1959, where he learned to speak Spanish fluently. He graduated from UCLA in 1963.
Medavoy began his career at Universal Studios in 1964. In 1965 he became an agent at the General Artist Corporation and later moving into the vice president position of the Creative Management Agency.
Later he joined Creative Management as its vice president of the motion picture department in 1967. There, he worked with Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola amongst others and headed to IFA in 1970.[1]
In 1974, United Artists brought Medavoy in as senior vice president of production. There, he was part of the team responsible for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, and Annie Hall, which won best Pictures Oscars® in 1975, 1976 and 1977 respectively. United Artists made a number of other notable films at the time, including Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Network and Coming Home.[1]
In 1978, Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures. During his tenure there, Orion released films such notable and successful films as Platoon, Amadeus, Robocop, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Terminator, Dances with Wolves, and The Silence of the Lambs.[1]
In 1990, Medavoy became the chairman of TriStar Pictures where he oversaw release of films such as Philadelphia, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sleepless in Seattle, Cliffhanger, The Fisher King, Legends of the Fall and Hook.[1]
In 1995, Medavoy co-founded Phoenix Pictures. As its chairman and CEO, Mike helped produce films such as The People vs. Larry Flint, The Mirror Has Two Faces, U Turn, Apt Pupil, The Thin Red Line, The 6th Day, Basic, Holes, All the King's Men, Zodiac, Pathfinder and Miss Potter, among others. The Thin Red Line and The People vs. Larry Flint each received Oscar nominations.[1]
Most recently, Phoenix Pictures has produced Shutter Island and Black Swan. Shutter Island was released on February 19, 2010, earning over $42 million its opening weekend. Black Swan was directed by Darren Aronofsky and won numerous awards including the Oscar® and Golden Globe for Best Actress (Natalie Portman).[1]
In 2011, Medavoy announced his newest project surrounding the 2010 Chilean mining accident that left 33 men trapped underground for 69 days. Medavoy will collaborate with Chilean officials and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter José Rivera to create an authentic retelling of this story that, as Medavoy explains, “at its heart, [is] about the triumph of the human spirit and a testament to the courage and perseverance of the Chilean people”.[1]
Also in 2011, Medavoy announced his collaboration with The Shanghai Film Group to create both a feature film and six-hour miniseries. The feature, an adaptation of the novel The Cursed Piano, is a love story set in Japanese-occupied China concerning prosecuted Jews seeking refuge from an occupied Europe. The mini-series, Tears of a Sparrow, will focus in greater detail on the experience of these Jews in Shanghai.[1]
Membership in film organizations.[1]
Medavoy was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles by Governor Jerry Brown and was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan as Commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Parks and Recreations. He is a member of the board of directors of the University of Tel Aviv. He also serves on the board of trustees of the UCLA Foundation and is a member of the Chancellor’s Associates, the Dean’s Advisory Board at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television and the Alumni Association’s Student Relations Committee.[1]
Medavoy is the co-chairman of the Burkle Center for UCLA’s Center for International Relations and served as a member of the board of advisors at the Kennedy School at Harvard University for five years. In 2002, Governor Gray Davis appointed Mike to the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center’s Executive Advisory Board; he is also a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Mike is also on the Baryshnikov Arts Center Advisory Committee in New York, and serves on the advisory board of the University of Southern California's Center for Public Diplomacy.[1]
In 1984, Medavoy was Co-Finance Chair of the Gary Hart campaign. He also actively participated in President Clinton’s campaigns in 1992 and 1996. In 2008, he supported Barack Obama's candidacy and his wife, Irena, served as the Co-Finance Chair of the campaign.[1]
In 2002, Simon & Schuster published Medavoy’s book, You’re Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films and 100 For Which I Should Be Shot, which became a best-selling and was subsequently released in paperback in 2003. In 2009, Mike published American Idol After Iraq; Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age, with co-author Nathan Gardels, editor of the National Political Quarterly.[1]
He is married to Irena Medavoy, a founder of Team Safe-T and a charity executive and fundraiser for the Industry Task Force. Mike Medavoy has two sons, Brian and Nicholas, and resides in Beverly Hills, California.[1]