Jacob Kasdan (born October 28, 1974) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing ''

Walk Hard Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults o ...

'' (2007), ''

Bad Teacher ''Bad Teacher'' is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins and Jason Segel, the film tells the ...

'' (2011), ''

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'' (2014), '' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'' (2017) and '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019).

Early life

Kasdan was born and raised in a

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 ...

family, with little religious education in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, the son of Meg (née Goldman), a writer, and writer-director

Lawrence Kasdan Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the '' Star Wars'' films ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), and '' Solo: A Star Wars St ...

. His younger brother,

Jon Kasdan Jonathan Peter Kasdan (born September 30, 1979) is an American film and television screenwriter, director, producer and actor. Biography Kasdan was born to a Jewish family, the son of Meg (née Goldman), a writer, and film director Lawrence Kasd ...

, also works in the film and television industry as an actor and writer.

Career

Kasdan has directed seven theatrical films: ''

Zero Effect ''Zero Effect'' is a 1998 American mystery comedy film written and directed by Jake Kasdan in his feature directional debut. Starring Bill Pullman as "the world's most private detective", Daryl Zero, and Ben Stiller as his assistant Steve Arlo, ...

'' (1998), ''

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

'' (2002), ''

The TV Set ''The TV Set'' is a 2006 comedy-drama film written and directed by Jake Kasdan and starring David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, and Judy Greer. The film follows an idealistic writer attempting to bring his vision for a TV show to fruit ...

'' (2006), '' Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' (2007), ''

'' (2011), ''

'' (2014), '' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'' (2017) and '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019). He has also worked in television, most notably with

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films '' ...

, as a consulting producer and director on ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen drama, teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive producer, executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 United States network television schedul ...

'' and as a director on ''

Undeclared ''Undeclared'' is an American sitcom created by Judd Apatow, which aired on Fox during the 2001–02 season. The show has developed a cult following, and in 2012, ''Entertainment Weekly'' listed it at #16 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the ...

''. He has also directed numerous stage productions. He is attached to direct

John Grisham John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the Am ...

novel ''

Calico Joe ''Calico Joe'' is John Grisham's first baseball novel. It was released on April 10, 2012. The book's style mixes fact and fiction - introducing fictional players into well-known actual teams such as the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs and let ...

'' to a family film adaptation. In 2008, Kasdan received his first Golden Globe nomination for ''Walk Hard ''in the Best Original Song category (shared with

John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in ''Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' ...

, Judd Apatow, and

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as " Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, " Cynical Girl," and " Whenever You're on My Mind." He ...

), but lost to "Guaranteed" from '' Into the Wild'' (written by

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...

). As a child, he made several appearances in his father's movies such as '' The Big Chill'' and '' Silverado'' (in the former he is an autograph seeker at a funeral and in the latter a stable boy). After the success of ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...

'', Kasdan announced that on July 11, 2012, that he had signed a deal with

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

, through The Detective Agency, to pursue own projects. In February 2015, Fox announced it had greenlit a pilot for the comedy '' The Grinder'' to be directed by Kasdan and starring

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...

. On March 26, 2019, The Detective Agency's producing partners Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar reupped, and signed a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox Television. In October 2021, it was announced that

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

had given a series order to a television adaptation of graphic novel, ''

American Born Chinese American-born Chinese are the subset of Chinese Americans who were born in the US. The term may also refer to: * ''ABC'' (Jin album), a Cantonese language album by Chinese American rapper Jin, the name of which is the colloquially used acronym of ...

''. It will be produced by 20th Century Television with

Kelvin Yu Kelvin Yu (born 1979) is an American actor and writer. Early life and education Yu was born to Yu Ming-chuan and Lin Ling-juan. He grew up in Los Angeles, where he currently resides. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles ...

and

Charles Yu Charles Chowkai Yu (born January 3, 1976) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels ''How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe'' and '' Interior Chinatown'', as well as the short-story collections ''Third Class Superhero'' ...

as writers and executive producers, Marvin Mar and Kasdan as executive producers, and

Destin Daniel Cretton Destin Daniel Cretton is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his films '' Short Term 12'' (2013), '' The Glass Castle'' (2017), ''Just Mercy'' (2019) and the Marvel Studios film ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' (2021). He h ...

as director and executive producer. Most recently, he served as executive producer of the workplace comedy pilot ''XYZ'' at ABC.

Personal life

Kasdan is married to singer-songwriter Inara George of

The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee (stylized in all lowercase) is an American indie pop musical duo from Los Angeles, consisting of Inara George ("the bird") and Greg Kurstin ("the bee"). Kurstin is a seven-time Grammy Award–winning producer and multi- ...

. They have three children: Otis, and twins Beau and Lorelei.Audio commentary to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Filmography

Films

Filmmaking credits

Acting credits

Soundtrack credits

Other credits

Television and web

Filmmmaking credits

Acting credits

Music video

* ''Believe'' by

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

(2015)

Awards

References

External links

*
The Director Interviews: Jake Kasdan, ''The TV Set''
at ''Filmmaker Magazine'' * The Director Interviews: Jake Kasdan, ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' at ''Filmmaker Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasdan, Jake 1974 births American male child actors American male film actors Comedy film directors Fantasy film directors Action film directors Jewish American male actors American television directors Living people Male actors from Detroit Film directors from Michigan 21st-century American Jews