Brian Grazer

Grazer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Arlene Becker Grazer and criminal defense attorney Thomas Grazer. He is the older brother of Nora Beth Grazer (b. 1952) and actor/director Gavin Grazer (b. 1961). He was raised in Sherman Oaks and Northridge, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. His parents divorced when he was in high school. 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.'" His nephew is actor Jack Dylan Grazer. 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. He then attended USC Law School for one year, but quit in 1975 to pursue a life in Hollywood. ==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. He produced his first feature film, Night Shift, in 1982, directed by Howard. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. ==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). They married on February 20, 2016. Grazer currently resides in Santa Monica, California. He also has a home in Hawaii on Sunset Beach, on the Banzai Pipeline on O'ahu's North Shore. He is a keen user of jump ropes. 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. ==Filmography==

Film Producer • Night Shift (1982) • Splash (1984) • Real Genius (1985) • Spies Like Us (1985) • Armed and Dangerous (1986) • Like Father Like Son (1987) • Parenthood (1989) • Kindergarten Cop (1990) • My Girl (1991) • Far and Away (1992) • Housesitter (1992) • Boomerang (1992) • For Love or Money (1993) • My Girl 2 (1994) • Greedy (1994) • The Paper (1994) • The Cowboy Way (1994) • Apollo 13 (1995) • Sgt. Bilko (1996) • Fear (1996) • The Nutty Professor (1996) • The Chamber (1996) • Ransom (1996) • Liar Liar (1997) • Inventing the Abbotts (1997) • Mercury Rising (1998) • Psycho (1998) • EDtv (1999) • Life (1999) • Bowfinger (1999) • Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) • A Beautiful Mind (2001) • Undercover Brother (2002) • Blue Crush (2002) • 8 Mile (2002) • Intolerable Cruelty (2003) • The Cat in the Hat (2003) • The Missing (2003) • Friday Night Lights (2004) • Cinderella Man (2005) • Flightplan (2005) • Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) • Inside Man (2006) • The Da Vinci Code (2006) • American Gangster (2007) • Changeling (2008) • Frost/Nixon (2008) • Angels & Demons (2009) • Robin Hood (2010) • The Dilemma (2011) • Restless (2011) • Cowboys & Aliens (2011) • Tower Heist (2011) • J. Edgar (2011) • Rush (2013) • Get On Up (2014) • The Good Lie (2014) • In the Heart of the Sea (2015) • Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016) • Lowriders (2016) • Inferno (2016) • American Made (2017) • The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) • Pavarotti (2019) • Dads (2019) • Rebuilding Paradise (2020) • Breakthrough: Virus Fighters (2020) • Hillbilly Elegy (2020) • Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) • Thirteen Lives (2022) • We Feed People (2022) • Candy Cane Lane (2023) • Jim Henson Idea Man (2024) • Music by John Williams (2024) • After the Hunt (2025) • Whalefall (2026) • Spaceballs: The New One (2027) • Alone at Dawn (TBA) Executive producer • Cry-Baby (1990) • The Doors (1991) • Closet Land (1991) • Backdraft (1991) • CB4 (1993) • Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! (2009) (Direct-to-video) • Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle (2015) (Direct-to-video) • Rock the Kasbah (2015) • Cop and a Half: New Recruit (2017) (Direct-to-video) • Backdraft 2 (2019) (Direct-to-video) • Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (2019) • Curious George: Royal Monkey (2019) (Direct-to-video) • Breakthrough: Virus Fighters (2020) • Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021) • Julia (2021) • Frida (2024) • Music by John Williams (2024) • Pets (2025) • Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything (2025) Story writer • Splash (1984) • Armed and Dangerous (1986) • Housesitter (1992) ;Music department ;Thanks Television Executive producer Producer ;As an actor ;As writer ;Thanks ==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 ==References==