Richard Tanne (born February 4, 1985) is an American filmmaker and actor. His critically acclaimed feature film debut '' Southside with You'' (2016), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received several accolades including a

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

nomination for Breakthrough Director. In 2020, Tanne released his second feature film, the

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

drama '' Chemical Hearts'', which he wrote and directed. It received positive reviews.

Early life

Tanne was born and raised in the township of

Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the 27,391 counted in the 2000 Census. In 2019, the Population Estimates Prog ...

. He attended Livingston High School, graduating in 2003. He was raised Jewish. As a teenager, Tanne's writing led to him being the recipient of the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Governor's Award for Excellence in Arts Education for

playwriting A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Following his initial success as a teenage writer, Tanne was announced as the winner of the Young Playwrights Inc. National Playwriting Competition, which was founded by Stephen Sondheim. Other recipients include filmmaker

Kenneth Lonergan Kenneth Lonergan (born October 16, 1962) is an American film director, playwright, and screenwriter. He is the co-writer of the film ''Gangs of New York'' (2002), and wrote and directed '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), ''Margaret'' (2011), and ' ...

and playwright

Rebecca Gilman Rebecca Gilman (born 1965 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American playwright. Education She attended Middlebury College, graduated from Birmingham-Southern College, and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop at the Univers ...

Career

Early work

Tanne became the host of '' Cinema Cool'' in 2010, and was also a co-creator of the movie talk show. His first major role as an actor came in 2011 in the TV movie, '' Swamp Shark''. The film aired in 2011 on the

SyFy Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

. He produced 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 ...

horror film ''Mischief Night'' (2014) and played a lead role in the 2014 independent film ''Worst Friends'', co-starring

Kristen Connolly Kristen Connolly (born July 12, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Dana in the 2011 film ''The Cabin in the Woods'', Christina Gallagher on the Netflix series ''House of Cards'' and Jamie Campbell on the CBS series ''Zo ...

and

Cody Horn Cody Harrell Horn is an American actress and model. She has appeared in films such as '' Violet & Daisy'' (2011), ''Magic Mike'' (2012), and ''End of Watch'' (2012), and guest starred on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' as recurring character Jordan ...

Breakthrough and success

In December 2014, it was announced that Tanne would make his feature directorial debut on the romance film '' Southside with You'', for which he also wrote the script. The film is based on the first date of American President

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 ...

and his wife Michelle Obama, in Chicago, Illinois in 1989. Around the same time,

Tika Sumpter Euphemia LatiQue Sumpter, better known as Tika Sumpter, is an American actress, singer, producer, television host, and model. Sumpter began her career as the host of '' Best Friend's Date''. From 2005 to 2010, she appeared in the daytime soap ope ...

was announced as cast in the role of Michelle Obama, and also co-produced. Principal photography on the film began on July 13, 2015 on location in Chicago, and wrapped on July 31, 2015. ''Southside with You'' premiered at the

2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi E ...

to critical acclaim and received numerous awards and nominations. It was released in North American theaters on August 26, 2016. On June 14, 2019,

announced that production was underway in New Jersey on '' Chemical Hearts'', a teenage coming-of-age, romance drama with Tanne writing, directing and producing and

Lili Reinhart Lili Pauline Reinhart (born September 13, 1996) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Betty Cooper on The CW teen drama series'' Riverdale'' (2017–present) and Annabelle in Lorene Scafaria's black comedy crime drama film '' Hust ...

starring and executive producing. Tanne adapted the screenplay from Krystal Sutherland's novel, '' Our Chemical Hearts.'' The film was released on Amazon Prime to generally positive reviews on August 21, 2020.

Upcoming projects

In October 2017, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wit ...

'' reported that Tanne sold a genre pitch to Sony Pictures in a bidding war. Though the plot was not disclosed, Tanne is set to write and direct the film. It was also reported that he will next direct an original screenplay entitled ''Vienna.''

Filmography

Film

Producer only

* ''

Mischief Night Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children, teenagers and adults (both young and old) engage in jokes, pranks, vandalism and/or parties. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Ni ...

'' (2014) * '' Worst Friends'' (2014)

Acting Roles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanne, Richard Male actors from New Jersey Film producers from New York (state) American male screenwriters Livingston High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Livingston, New Jersey American male film actors State University of New York at Purchase alumni Living people 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers Film directors from New Jersey 1985 births Screenwriters from New Jersey Film producers from New Jersey Screenwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American screenwriters Film directors from New York (state) Male actors from New York (state)