Michael Medavoy

Sample some of the best American films over the past forty years and there is an excellent chance Mike Medavoy played a role in their success. From agent to studio chief and now producer, Mike has been involved with over 300 feature films. Seventeen of those have gone on to be nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and seven have won.

This year marks the twelfth anniversary of Phoenix Pictures, the company Mike formed with his partner Arnie Messer. Phoenix has made more then 30 films, including "The Thin Red Line", “The People vs. Larry Flynt”, “All the King’s Men,” starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson and written and directed by Steve Zaillian; "Miss Potter", starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson and directed by Chris Noonan.; and now a slate of highly anticipated films including "Zodiac", starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, and Robert Downey Jr. and directed by David Fincher, "Pathfinder", starring Karl Urban and directed by Marcus Nispel, the Robin Williams starrer "License to Wed", with John Krasinski and Mandy Moore, and directed by Ken Kwapis, and "Resurrecting the Champ", starring Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Hartnett, and Alan Alda and directed by Rod Lurie.

During his heralded career, Mr. Medavoy has served as an agent to the likes of Steven Spielberg, Jane Fonda, and Francis Ford Coppola, as chairman of Tri-Star Pictures and as a co-founder of Orion Pictures.

He has helped bring to the screen such classics as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Rocky," "Platoon," "Dances With Wolves," "Silence of the Lambs," and "Philadelphia," to name a few.

Aside from the entertainment business, Mr. Medavoy has been very active in the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles by former Governor Jerry Brown, he was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan as Commissioner of the Los Angeles Board of Parks and Recreation, and he was appointed in 2002 by Governor Gray Davis to the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center's Executive Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Tel Aviv, the Board of Trustees of the UCLA Foundation, and the Board of Advisors at the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Mr. Medavoy is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an honorary fellow of the DeSantis Center's National Advisory Board.

Mike has received numerous awards such as the 1992 Motion Picture Pioneer of the Year Award, the 1998 lifetime achievement award from the Cannes Film Festival, the 1999 UCLA Neil H. Jacoby Award, which honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to humanity, the 2004 Louis B. Mayer Motion Picture Award from Florida Atlantic University and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and Producer’s Guild of America Vision Award. Mike was honored in 2005 by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has recently been named the Hollywood Film Festival’s 2006 Producer of the Year and won a Christopher award for producing the film “Miss Potter,” in 2007.

Despite of all of this, Mike’s greatest source of pride and joy are his wife Irena, his sons Brian and Nicholas, his parents Michael, who passed away, and Dora and his sister Ronnie.

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