Mohammed Mark Amin ( fa, محمد مارک امین) is an
Iranian American
Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship.
Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busin ...
motion picture producer, distributor and writer who has been working in independent and mainstream cinema for more than two decades. Some of Amin's film credits include ''
The Prince and Me
''The Prince & Me'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, and starring Julia Stiles, Luke Mably and Ben Miller, with Miranda Richardson, James Fox and Alberta Watson. The film focuses on Paige Morgan, a pre-med co ...
'' (2004), starring
Julia Stiles
Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Stiles began acting at the age of 11 as part of New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Her film debut was a small role in ''I'' ''Love Yo ...
, 1997's ''
Eve's Bayou
''Eve's Bayou'' is a 1997 American Southern Gothic drama film written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, who made her directorial debut with this film. Samuel L. Jackson served as a producer, and starred in the film with Lisa Nicole Carson, Jurnee Smo ...
'', starring
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
, and 2002's ''
Frida
''Frida'' is a 2002 American biographical drama film directed by Julie Taymor which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Starring Salma Hayek in an Academy Award–nominated portrayal as K ...
'', a biopic which Amin executive produced.
Amin served as producer for the
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
/
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate
Lions Gate ...
film ''
Girl Most Likely
''Girl Most Likely'' is a 2012 American comedy film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Based on a screenplay by Michelle Morgan, the film stars Kristen Wiig as a playwright who stages a suicide in an attempt to win back her e ...
'' (2012), starring
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominati ...
and
Matt Dillon, as well as producer for ''
Eliza Graves'' (2014), starring
Kate Beckinsale
Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...
,
Jim Sturgess
James Anthony Sturgess''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 16 May 1978) is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His first major role was as Jude in the musical romance drama film ''Acro ...
,
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...
and
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
. Most recently, Amin's film production company, Sobini Films, assisted in the production of ''
Miles Ahead'', starring
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nom ...
and
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...
. Sobini also served as a producer for
Good Kill
''Good Kill'' is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, Zoë Kravitz, Jake Abel, and January Jones. It competed for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film F ...
(2015) with
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...
.
Besides his career as a film producer, Amin has also been active in other business and investment interests. Amin is an investor and member of the advisory board of EdgeCast,
a content delivery firm which sold in 2013 to
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
for $400 million.
He is also chairman and major shareholder of gymra.com, the fitness website. Additionally, Amin is active in the development of almond and pistachio orchards in central California.
Early life and education
Amin is originally from
Rafsanjan
Rafsanjan ( fa, رفسنجان, also Romanized as Rafsanjān and Rafsinjān; also known as Bahrāmābād) is a city and capital of Rafsanjan County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 136,388, in 33,489 families. Rafs ...
, a small town in Iran. Raised in a family that was in the pistachio trading business,
Amin immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 1967, finishing out his last year of high school in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
.
In 1972, Amin graduated from the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
with a degree in economics. After earning his bachelor's degree, Amin 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 ...
's business school for one semester. However,
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 ...
proved too overwhelming and Amin transferred to the Graduate School of Management at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
.
Amin graduated from the management school with a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing in 1975.
Career
Early career
After graduating from management school, Amin worked for Western Gear, a construction machinery firm, and returned to Iran as the company's representative.
In 1979,
political and military conflict arose in Iran. As a result, Amin moved to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and then returned to Los Angeles. Following his return, Amin became involved in a number of businesses, including
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
,
petrochemicals and commodities.
Early film career
Amin's career in the film industry started in the early 1980s through his involvement with a chain of video stores in Los Angeles known as 20/20 Video.
In 1985, Amin formed Vidmark Entertainment, an "aggressive independent supplier"
of video releases operating in the early era of home video entertainment. Among their niches was obtaining the videocassette rights to
Television films
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
often made as TV movies of the week. It was with the financial success of Vidmark's early video releases that inspired Amin to further expand his efforts as a producer.
Trimark Pictures
With an initial investment of $270,000,
Amin co-founded Trimark Holdings, a company which would include among its subsidiaries,
Trimark Pictures
Trimark Pictures was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later T ...
, Trimark Television and Trimark Interactive.
Amin served as chairman and CEO of the newly formed company.
Trimark Pictures went on to release such titles as ''
Warlock
A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft.
Etymology and terminology
The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...
'' (1989), ''
The Dentist
''The Dentist'' is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and Charles Finch. It stars Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman and Ken Foree. It is the first installment in ''The Dentist'' film ser ...
'' (1996) and the ''
Leprechaun
A leprechaun ( ga, leipreachán/luchorpán) is a diminutive supernatural being in Irish folklore, classed by some as a type of solitary fairy. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. ...
'' franchise (the first of which starred a young
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...
).
In 2000, Trimark merged with
Lions Gate Entertainment in a move that made Amin Lionsgate's single largest shareholder, as well as its vice chairman.
During Amin's nine-year tenure as vice chairman of Lionsgate, the company's revenue grew from $184 million to $1.2 billion. The production company also produced and distributed film releases that included ''
Monster's Ball'' (2001), starring
Halle Berry, which earned her an
Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...
, and
Academy Award for Best Picture-winner, ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
'' (2004).
During this time, Amin also became chairman of
CinemaNow
CinemaNow was an international over-the-top (OTT) provider of on-demand, Internet streaming media available to viewers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1999 and was headquartered in Los Angeles, Cal ...
, an online independent film distributor.
Sobini Films
In 2001, Amin founded Sobini Films, a production company focused on producing specialized and mainstream commercial films. Since its founding, Sobini Films has produced a number of films, including ''
Streets of Legend'' (2003), a
Sundance award winner, ''An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong'' (2009) and "Sexy Evil Genius" (2013). Sobini Films has several upcoming projects in various stages of production, including "Stonehearst Asylum" and "I Live For You".
Controversy over DuPont Fabros Technology Inc. Stock
In 2012, the SEC alleged that Mark Amin learned confidential information about expanding business opportunities for DuPont Fabros Technology Inc., which develops and manages facilities that maintain large computer servers for technology companies. It was alleged that Amin tipped his brother and cousin with this confidential information. The three allegedly illegally traded on the basis of that inside information and allegedly gained profits from this insider trading. Mark Amin and five others agreed to settle the SEC's charges by collectively paying nearly $2 million.
Personal life
Philanthropic efforts and contributions
In 1997, Amin donated $25,000 to the University of Kansas to start a scholarship for those students studying film at the school.
In 2000, Amin and his brother, Reza Amin, formed the Bijan and Soraya Amin Foundation, which has helped support organizations that include the National Ability Center, the
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Brady: United Against Gun Violence (formerly “Handgun Control, Inc”., the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and again ...
, the University Muslim Medical Association.
In 2011, Amin produced a documentary entitled "Jujitsu-ing Reality" on Scott Lew, a screenwriter with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. On May 29, 2014, Amin was recognized for increasing support and awareness of ALS at the ALS Association Golden West Chapter A Night at the Esseys Awards.
Amin is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Farhang Foundation, an organization which promotes the study and research of Iranian art and culture.
Recognition
In 2010, Amin earned an Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award from his alma mater, the University of Kansas.
Filmography
Theatrical releases
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amin, Mark
Living people
American film producers
1950 births
Iranian diaspora film people
People from Rafsanjan
Iranian emigrants to the United States