Ivan Reitman

'Ivan Reitman' (qv), as a producer and director, has created many of American cinema's most successful and best loved feature film comedies and has worked with Hollywood's acting elite. Reitman has produced such hits as the ground-breaking sensation National Lampoon's _National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)_ (qv), which introduced 'John Belushi' (qv) to American filmgoers, and the family features _Beethoven (1992)_ (qv) and _Beethoven's 2nd (1993)_ (qv). His directing credits include _Meatballs (1979)_ (qv), _Stripes (1981)_ (qv) and _Ghostbusters (1984)_ (qv), films starring 'Bill Murray' (qv), 'Dan Aykroyd' (qv) and 'Harold Ramis' (qv); _Dave (1993)_ (qv), which starred 'Kevin Kline' (qv) and 'Sigourney Weaver' (qv), _Junior (1994)_ (qv) which starred 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' (qv), 'Danny DeVito' (qv) and 'Emma Thompson' (qv). Reitman also produced the HBO telefilm _The Late Shift (1996)_ (qv), based on 'Bill Carter' (qv)'s non-fiction book about the late-night television wars which received seven Emmy nominations. Other recent producing endeavors include _Commandments (1997)_ (qv), starring 'Aidan Quinn' (qv) and 'Courteney Cox' (qv), _Private Parts (1997)_ (qv), starring 'Howard Stern' (qv), as well as the animation/ live action film _Space Jam (1996)_ (qv), starring 'Michael Jordan' (qv) and the Looney Tunes characters. With _Twins (1988)_ (qv), Reitman created an entirely new comedic persona for action hero 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' (qv) -- and forged a personal and professional relationship that continued with _Kindergarten Cop (1990)_ (qv) and _Junior (1994)_ (qv). Acclaimed dramatic actors such as 'Robert Redford' (qv), 'Debra Winger' (qv), 'Sigourney Weaver' (qv), and 'Emma Thompson' (qv) have also revealed untapped comic talents under Reitman's direction. In 1984, Reitman was honored as Director of the Year by the National Association of Theater Owners and the next year received a Special Achievement Award at the Canadian Genie awards. In 1979 and again in 1989, for the films _National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)_ (qv) and _Twins (1988)_ (qv), Reitman was honored with the People's Choice Award. In November of 1994, Reitman became the third director honored by Variety magazine in a special Billion Dollar Director issue. Reitman was born in Czechoslovakia and fled with his family to Canada at the age of four. He attended Canada's McMaster University, where he produced and directed several television shorts. He followed with a live television show, _Greed: The Series (1999)_ (qv), with 'Dan Aykroyd' (qv) as its announcer. "Spellbound," which Reitman produced for the live stage, evolved into the Broadway hit "The Magic Show," starring 'Doug Henning' (qv). He continued producing for the stage with the Off-Broadway hit "The National Lampoon Show," and returned to Broadway to produce and direct the musical "Merlin," earning a Tony nomination for directing. Reitman currently heads The Montecito Picture Company, a film and television production company, with partner 'Tom Pollock' (qv). His television credits include the Emmy-nominated children's show _The Real Ghostbusters (1986)_ (qv) and the Saturday morning animated series _Beethoven (1994)_ (qv) for CBS. He is presently working on a new animated children's show _Mummies Alive! The Legend Begins (1998)_ (qv) and has several feature films in development and pre-production under his new deal with DreamWorks.::Juliet Ward <[email protected]>