Jordan Walker-Pearlman (born June 24, 1967) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, and executive.

Early life

Walker-Pearlman was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and is the nephew of actor

Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman (June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016), known professionally as Gene Wilder, was an American actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He is known mainly for his comedic roles, but also for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in ''Willy Won ...

with whom he lived part of the time since childhood.

Career

Jordan is best known for the 2000 film '' The Visit'', for which he was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards (One for Directing and one for Writing the Screenplay) and the movie four. His 2005 film, ''

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

'', starring

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films ''She's All That' ...

Zoe Saldana Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to: *ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life" People * Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Zoe'' (film) * ZOE Broadcast ...

, and

Billy Dee Williams William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thirt ...

, premiered at the

Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an ar ...

Roxbury Film Festival The Roxbury International Film Festival (RoxFilm; formerly known as “Dudley Film Festival”) is the largest film festival in New England that celebrates people of color. RoxFilm was founded in 1998 and holds both an annual film festival and year ...

, Black Filmmmaker Magazine Film Festival, and the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. It also had a special premiere at the Kwa Mashu Film Festival in South Africa with both director and actress Gabrielle Union present for ten days to open the movie theater at the Arts Centre in the Kwa Mashu Township. Both films won the Audience Award at the Urbanworld Film Festival in their respective years.

Personal life

In 2015, Jordan married screenwriter Elizabeth Hunter. On February 3, 2020, he wrote an

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

for ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' calling on the

Motion Picture Academy The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

to recognize the “cultural violence” of historical racism in American movies in its new

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a museum in Los Angeles, California constructed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which is devoted to the history, science, and cultural impact of the film industry. It is the f ...

in Los Angeles and explained his years earlier decision to decline an invitation to membership in the organization. The op-ed was the first of several that year that appeared to influence

AMPAS The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

to dedicate several exhibits to this history. In 2020, Jordan purchased his late uncle

's house from

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

and the property will be featured in the upcoming semi-autobiographical film ''The Requiem Boogie''. He is the co-founder of MoJo Global Arts which he left in June 2021 to become founder of the film production company HarlemHollywood.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Jordan Walker-Pearlman's Official Site
American male screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) Film directors from New York City 1967 births Living people Screenwriters from New York (state) American film producers {{US-film-director-1960s-stub