Brian Grazer

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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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Grazer was personally nominated for four Academy Awards for Splash (1984), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Frost/Nixon (2008).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> His films and TV series have been nominated for 47 Academy Awards and 217 Emmy Awards.

In 2002, Grazer won an Academy Award for Best Picture for A Beautiful Mind (shared with Ron Howard). In 2007, he was named one of TimeTemplate:'s "100 Most Influential People in the World".<ref name=autogenerated2 />

Early life

Grazer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Arlene Becker Grazer and criminal defense attorney Thomas Grazer.<ref name="latimes1992">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="yahoo1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is the older brother of Nora Beth Grazer (b. 1952) and actor/director Gavin Grazer (b. 1961).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was raised in Sherman Oaks and Northridge, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley.<ref name="yahoo1"/>

Grazer's father was Catholic and his mother is Jewish.<ref name="latimes1992"/><ref name="Newsweek">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His parents divorced when he was in high school.<ref name="xaluan1">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.'"<ref name="latimes1992"/>

While in school, Grazer struggled with dyslexia. Grazer got through school by reading other students' papers and arguing his grades with his teachers.<ref name="yale-grazerdyslexia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His nephew is actor Jack Dylan Grazer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="yahoo1"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He then attended USC Law School for one year, but quit in 1975 to pursue a life in Hollywood.<ref name="latimes1992"/><ref name="yahoo1"/><ref name="xaluan1"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

Grazer began his career as a producer developing television projects. While executive-producing television pilots at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, he met current long-time friend and business collaborator Ron Howard.<ref name=autogenerated2>Imagine Entertainment Brian Grazer Biography Template:Webarchive. Retrieved January 1, 2012.</ref>

He produced his first feature film, Night Shift, in 1982, directed by Howard.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Grazer and Howard collaborated again for Splash in 1984, which Grazer produced and co-wrote. Splash earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1984.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Grazer went on to become an independent producer, collaborating 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 television 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.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

Grazer's early film successes include Parenthood (1989) and Backdraft (1991).<ref name=autogenerated2 /> 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 Academy Award nomination for Best Picture of 1995.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

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.<ref name=autogenerated3>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

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

In 2002, Grazer's 8 Mile was released.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> It proved not only to be a huge box office hit, but also the first film with a rap song to win a Academy Award for Best Original Song, for Eminem's "Lose Yourself".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

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.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Grazer has been married three times: Corki Corman (1982–1992; they have two children), and novelist and screenwriter Gigi Levangie (1997–2007; they have two sons).<ref name="yahoo1" /><ref name=autogenerated3 /> In April 2014, Grazer became engaged to Veronica Smiley, chief marketing officer of SBE, a hotel management company.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> They married on February 20, 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Grazer currently resides in Santa Monica, California.<ref>"Holiday Surprise: Hollywood is at Work," Template:Webarchive The New York Times, December 28, 2011</ref> He also has a home in Hawaii on Sunset Beach, on the Banzai Pipeline on O'ahu's North Shore.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He is a keen user of jump ropes.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

In June 2025, The New York Times reported on Grazer's appearance in a documentary series called Art of the Surge. In the show, Grazer says that he voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which Trump won. Grazer says that he opted for Trump because “I could feel and see Biden’s deterioration and the lack of direction in the Democratic Party at that time.” The Times also notes that Grazer produced Hillbilly Elegy, the movie based on the memoir of Vice President J.D. Vance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

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Music department
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Apollo 13 Executive music producer check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
Thanks
Year Film Notes
2015 The Haunting of Pearson Place Inspired by

Television

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Year Title Notes
1985−86 Shadow Chasers
1987−88 Ohara
1988 Smart Guys
Poison TV movie
Mutts TV movie
1997 Hiller and Diller
1998−2000 Sports Night
1998−2002 Felicity
1999 Mulholland Dr. TV pilot
1999−2001 The PJs
2000 Thirty TV movie
Wonderland
Rat Bastard TV movie
2001 The Beast
Silicon Follies TV movie
2001−10 24
2002 B.S. TV movie
2003 The Snobs TV movie
The Break TV movie
Miss Match
2003−19 Arrested Development
2004 The Big House
2005 Queen B TV movie
Fertile Ground TV movie
2005−06 The Inside
2006 Beyond TV pilot
2007 24: Day Six - Debrief
Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office TV movie
2006−08 Shark
2006−11 Friday Night Lights
2006−15 Curious George
2008 24: Redemption TV movie
2009 Maggie Hill TV movie
2009−11 Lie to Me
2010−12 Parenthood
2011 Friends with Benefits
The Playboy Club
2012 The Great Escape
Susan 313 TV movie
2013 How to Live with Your Parents
(For the Rest of Your Life)
2014 Those Who Kill
Gang Related
24: Live Another Day
2015 The Bastard Executioner
WTF America TV movie
Problem Child TV pilot
Nerd Herd TV movie
The Clan of the Cave Bear TV pilot
2015−17 Breakthrough
2015−19 Empire
2016 Chance
2016−17 24: Legacy
2016−18 Mars
2017 Shots Fired
2017−18 Genius
2019 Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10 TV short
2019–21 Why Women Kill
2019 Wu-Tang: An American Saga
2020 68 Whiskey
Filthy Rich
2021 Swagger
Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol
The Ms. Pat Show
Genius: Aretha
2022 Under the Banner of Heaven
2022−25 The Tiny Chef Show
2023 The Super Models
The Slumber Party TV Movie
2024 The Truth About Jim
I Am Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders

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Year Title Notes
1978 Zuma Beach TV movie
Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery TV movie
1988 Poison
1998 From the Earth to the Moon
1999 Student Affairs TV movie
2005 The WIN Awards TV special
2006 Treasure Hunters Co-producer
Misconceptions
2007 Entourage
2012 84th Academy Awards TV special;
Co-producer

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As an actor
Year Title Role Notes
1998 The Simpsons Himself Voice role
2007 Entourage check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2013 Arrested Development
2017 This Is Us
2024 Everybody's in LA check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
As writer
Year Title Notes
1985-86 Shadow Chasers Co-created with Kenneth Johnson
Story with Johnson for episode "Pilot"
Thanks
Year Title Notes
2002 The Clint Howard Variety Show Special thanks

Additional awards

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References

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