Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive. He is the founder of the media production company Wondros and Lybba, a non-profit organization. He is also a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations and
TED
TED may refer to:
Economics and finance
* TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar
Education
* ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association
** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey
** Transvaal Education Depa ...
. He is the son of musician
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and former model
Sara Lownds
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* Sara (2010 ...
and brother of singer-songwriter
Jakob Dylan
Jakob Luke Dylan (born December 9, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter. He rose to fame as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the rock band the Wallflowers.
Born in New York City to musician Bob Dylan and model Sara Lownds, Dylan be ...
.
Early life and education
Dylan was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and is the eldest son of musician
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and
Sara Lownds Dylan. His parents are from
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
families. His siblings include Anna Lea (b. July 11, 1967), Samuel Isaac Abraham (b. July 30, 1968) and
Jakob Luke (b. December 9, 1969). In addition, his father adopted Sara's daughter from a prior marriage, Maria Lownds (b. October 21, 1961). Bob and Sara Dylan divorced when Jesse was 11 years old.
Dylan attended
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
film school
A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training ar ...
.
[Fast Company, 100 Most Creative People In 2010]
Fastcompany.com
Accessed February 7, 2011.
Career
Dylan began his career directing music videos for clients including
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
,
Elvis Costello,
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...
,
Lita Ford
Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal sol ...
,
Public Image Limited
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
and
Lenny Kravitz.
[Public Knowledge]
Publicknowledge.org
. Accessed February 7, 2011. Dylan is also known for providing the cover photo of Waits' 1992 album ''
Bone Machine
''Bone Machine'' is the eleventh studio album by American singer and musician Tom Waits, released by Island Records on September 8, 1992. It won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and features guest appearances by David Hidalgo, Le ...
''.
"Yes We Can"
In 2008, he directed the
will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
Emmy Award-winning music video
"Yes We Can," inspired by
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's campaign for President. The film was created in three days, and featured over 30 celebrity supporters singing then-Candidate Barack Obama's New Hampshire Primary concession speech. Originally posted on YouTube, "Yes We Can" received over 26 million views just days after its release, and was recognized by AdAge in 2012 as one of the most influential political ads of all time.
Other work
His feature film directorial work consists of comedies such as ''
Kicking and Screaming'', starring
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...
and
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...
, ''
American Wedding
''American Wedding'' (known as ''American Pie 3: The Wedding'' or ''American Pie: The Wedding'', in some countries) is a 2003 American sex comedy film written by Adam Herz and directed by Jesse Dylan. It is the sequel to '' American Pie'' (1999 ...
'' and ''
How High
''How High'' is a 2001 American stoner comedy film starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film.
In the film, Redman and Method Man portray two cannabis users who are visited by ...
''. Other feature-length projects include the documentary ''
Crips and Bloods: Made in America,'' which explores the culture of gangs and systemic violence in South Los Angeles. He produced the film for director Stacy Peralta who premiered it at the 2008
Sundance Film Festival. Dylan also produced and directed an original television series, "CONversations with Ricky Jay," which was built around sleight of hand artist
Ricky Jay
Richard Jay Potash (June 26, 1946 – November 24, 2018) was an American stage magician, actor and writer. In a profile for ''The New Yorker'', Mark Singer called Jay "perhaps the most gifted sleight of hand artist alive". In addition to sleight ...
.
Lybba
In 2007, Dylan launched Lybba, a non-profit organization focused on the open source healthcare movement. The project, according to Fast Company, "combines the latest verified medical data with social networking to allow patients and health-care professionals to make informed decisions."
The self-professed goal of the project is "to create an online central repository of medical information."
[Jesse Dylan, Bob Dylan's Son, Invigorates Open Source Health Care With Lybba, September 14, 2010]
Acrossad.org
. Accessed February 7, 2011. Since their foundation, Lybba has worked with such partners as the Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N) and Early Development Systems Initiative (EDSI).
Soros
In 2020, Dylan was the director and executive producer of "Soros", examining the personal history and public activism of
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
, the billionaire investor and philanthropist.
Personal life
Dylan is separated from
Susan Traylor, with whom he has a son
and a daughter.
References
External links
Wondros Healtharticlein ''The Wall Street Journal''
Jesse Dylan/Lybba articleon Marketwatch.com
articleon Creative Commons Fellowship
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dylan, Jesse
American film directors
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Turkish-Jewish descent
Bob Dylan
Comedy film directors
1966 births
Living people
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Artists from New York City
American chief executives in the media industry
American music video directors