Jarecki graduated from
Princeton University in 1985. He is the co-founder and
CEO of
Moviefone, which provides film schedules over the Internet and telephone and was sold to
AOL in 1999. With producer
J. J. Abrams, Jarecki co-wrote the
theme song to
Felicity, "New Version of You", in 2000. Jarecki's 2003 documentary about a family,
Capturing the Friedmans, his first feature, began as an offshoot from a short film he was making about birthday party clowns, which was titled
Just a Clown and released in 2004. It earned him his first
Academy Awards nomination for
Best Documentary and recognition by the
National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Film. Jarecki went on to direct the narrative feature
All Good Things starring
Ryan Gosling,
Kirsten Dunst, and
Frank Langella. The film, inspired by the life of millionaire
Robert Durst and the unsolved disappearance of his wife Kathie, was released in 2010. Along with filmmaking partner
Marc Smerling, Jarecki also produced the 2010 documentary film
Catfish, and co-produced and directed the documentary series
The Jinx, which aired on
HBO in 2015. Jarecki plays the drums and sings backing vocals on Bikini Robot Army's single "Joe Strummer's House". Jarecki directed the 2018
Netflix comedy series
Bumping Mics with Jeff Ross & Dave Attell. In 2025 he produced, directed and write the documentary
The Alabama Solution about the prison system in
Alabama, being praised by critics and being nominated at the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. ==Personal life==