1986–2010: Early career, Freaks and Geeks and directorial debut After a year at
Wayne State University, Feig moved to Los Angeles and transferred to the
University of Southern California. He also worked as a tour guide at
Universal Studios Hollywood, embarked on a
stand-up comedy act, and landed minor roles on various television shows. Feig also appeared in a number of films, such as
Ski Patrol, and in a role alongside
Ben Stiller in the 1995 film
Heavyweights, in which he played camp counselor Tim. On the first season of
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Feig portrayed Mr. Eugene Pool,
Sabrina's science teacher. With
Heavyweights co-scripter
Judd Apatow, Feig created the short-lived comedy series
Freaks and Geeks, inspired by his experiences at
Chippewa Valley High School in
Clinton Township,
Michigan. The show aired on
NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. Eighteen episodes were completed, but the series was canceled after only twelve had aired. Despite the short run,
Freaks and Geeks has since maintained a devoted cult following. The show was named in
Time magazine's 100 Greatest Shows of All Time, and in summer 2008,
Entertainment Weekly ranked
Freaks and Geeks as the 13th best show of the past 25 years. Feig was nominated for two Emmys for writing the show's pilot and the season finale. Feig made his directorial debut with the drama film
I Am David, which premiered at the 2003
Cannes Film Festival. He later directed the Christmas comedy film
Unaccompanied Minors (2006).
2011–2016: Bridesmaids and other film works with Melissa McCarthy In 2011, Feig was consulted to direct the Apatow-produced comedy film
Bridesmaids. Written by
Annie Mumolo and
Kristen Wiig, the plot centers on Annie (Wiig), who suffers a series of misfortunes after being asked to serve as
maid of honor for her best friend, Lillian, played by
Maya Rudolph. Budgeted at $32.5 million,
Bridesmaids was both critically and commercially successful, eventually grossing over $288 million worldwide, and served as a touchstone for discussion about women in comedy. The film was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and received multiple other accolades, including
Academy Award nominations in the
Best Supporting Actress for
Melissa McCarthy and
Best Original Screenplay for Wiig and Mumolo. In 2013, Feig reunited with McCarthy on
buddy cop action comedy film
The Heat, also starring
Sandra Bullock. Directed by Feig and written by
Katie Dippold, it centers on a mismatched police pairing who must overcome their differences in order to take down a mobster. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the chemistry, and performances of Bullock and McCarthy, and was a success at the box office, grossing $229 million worldwide against a $43 million budget. In 2015, Feig wrote, directed, and produced the spy comedy movie
Spy for
20th Century Fox, again starring Melissa McCarthy. It follows the life of a secret agent, Susan Cooper, trying to expose the black-market. The film received acclaim from critics and became another box office success at an international gross of $235.7 million. It was nominated for two
Golden Globe Awards:
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for McCarthy. Also in 2015, Feig produced the animated feature
The Peanuts Movie for
Blue Sky Studios, based on the
Peanuts comic strip and characters created by
Charles M. Schulz. During 2015, Feig also created the science fiction comedy series
Other Space for
Yahoo!'s
video on demand service
Yahoo! Screen and wrote the show's first episode. The series stars
Trace Beaulieu,
Neil Casey,
Eugene Cordero,
Joel Hodgson,
Conor Leslie,
Bess Rous,
Karan Soni, and
Milana Vayntrub as the dysfunctional crew of an exploratory spaceship who become trapped in an unknown universe.
Other Space received positive reviews, but was not renewed for a second season due to Yahoo! Screen being shut down in 2016. Feig later created a
Tumblr to provide direct links to each episode after he reobtained the rights to the series. In 2020, the series was picked up by streaming service DUST. In 2016, Feig directed and co-wrote the
female driven reboot of the
Ghostbusters franchise, starring McCarthy,
Kristen Wiig,
Kate McKinnon, and
Leslie Jones as four women who begin a
ghost-catching business in New York City. The announcement of the female-led cast in 2015 drew a polarized response from the public and internet backlash, leading to the film's
IMDb page and associated
YouTube videos receiving low ratings prior to the film's release. The film grossed $229 million worldwide against a production budget of $144 million, becoming the highest-grossing live-action comedy domestically of 2016. However, due to its high production and marketing budget, it is considered a
box-office bomb.
2017–present: A Simple Favor and Last Christmas 2025 for
Another Simple Favor In 2017, Feig produced
Jonathan Levine's comedy film
Snatched, starring
Amy Schumer and
Goldie Hawn as a mother-daughter couple who are abducted while on vacation in South America. The same year, he began production on the comedy thriller
A Simple Favor. Based on the 2017
novel of the same name by Darcey Bell, it stars
Anna Kendrick,
Blake Lively, and
Henry Golding, and follows a small town blogger who tries to solve the disappearance of her mysterious and rich best friend. Released in September 2018, the film received generally favorable reviews from critics, with praise for the plot twists and performances of Kendrick and Lively. In 2018, Feig directed an advertisement for
Diet Coke starring
Hayley Magnus, which was shown during the
Super Bowl. In 2019, he directed the romantic comedy
Last Christmas, re-teaming with
Henry Golding, who starred in the film alongside
Emilia Clarke. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office success, earning over $120 million. In March 2019, following 20th Century Fox's acquisition by
The Walt Disney Company, Feig announced he would be moving his Feigco production studio to
Universal Pictures. ==Filmography==