Dean Devlin (born August 27, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and actor of film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with director

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of wh ...

, and for his work on the ''Librarian'' and ''Leverage'' television franchises. He is a co-founder of the production companies

Centropolis Entertainment Centropolis Entertainment is a German-American film production company founded in 1985 as Centropolis Film Productions by German film director Roland Emmerich and American film producer Dean Devlin. As of 2001, the company is a subsidiary of Das ...

and

Electric Entertainment Electric Entertainment, Inc. is an American television and media production company, established in 2001 by veteran writer/producer Dean Devlin and led by Devlin along with partners Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan. History Electric Entertainmen ...

Early life

Devlin 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 ...

, the son of actress

Pilar Seurat Pilar Seurat (born Rita Hernandez, July 25, 1938 – June 2, 2001) was a Filipino American film and television actress in the 1960s. Life and career Born in Manila, Seurat began her Hollywood career as a dancer in Ken Murray's "Blackouts", t ...

and Don Devlin, a writer, actor, and producer. His father was

Jew 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""Th ...

ish and his mother was

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

. He attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Career

Film

Devlin appeared as an actor on numerous television shows throughout the 1980s. He also appeared in films including ''

My Bodyguard ''My Bodyguard'' is a 1980 American family comedy drama film directed by Tony Bill (his directorial debut), and written by Alan Ormsby. The film stars Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin (in his first film role), Matt Dillon, Martin Mull, and Ruth Gor ...

'', '' The Wild Life'', ''

Real Genius ''Real Genius'' is a 1985 American comic science fiction film directed by Martha Coolidge and written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft, and PJ Torokvei. Starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret, the film, set on the campus of Pacific Tech, a science and e ...

'' and '' Martians Go Home''. Due to his youthful appearance, Devlin often played teenage characters despite being in his 20s. Devlin gradually began writing scripts. His first produced screenplay was for '' Universal Soldier''. He reached prominence as a writer/producer working alongside director

, with whom he teamed after appearing in Emmerich's film ''

Moon 44 ''Moon 44'' is a 1990 English-language German science fiction action film from Centropolis Film Productions, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Michael Paré and Lisa Eichhorn alongside Brian Thompson and Malcolm McDowell. The film is set o ...

''. Together they cowrote and produced ''

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

,'' the first movie to have a web site. The team then produced ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

'' and ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

''. They split following the 2000 Mel Gibson film '' The Patriot'', but re-teamed to film '' Independence Day: Resurgence'' in 2016. Devlin has also produced ''

Cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

'', ''

Who Killed the Electric Car? ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Chris Paine that explores the creation, limited commercialization and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the G ...

'', and '' Flyboys''. Devlin's directorial debut was the action sci-fi film ''

Geostorm ''Geostorm'' is a 2017 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Dean Devlin (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It fol ...

'' for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

The film was set for a March 2016 release, later rescheduled for October 2017. It starred

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as ''Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Di ...

as the lead with

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 ''Acros ...

Abbie Cornish Abbie Cornish (born 7 August 1982) is an Australian actress. Cornish is best known for her film roles as Heidi in ''Somersault'' (2004), Fanny Brawne in '' Bright Star'' (2009), Sweet Pea in ''Sucker Punch'' (2011), Lindy in '' Limitless'' (20 ...

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award n ...

and

Andy García Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...

. The film made $221 million on a $120 million budget. Devlin's second film as director was the 2018 thriller '' Bad Samaritan'', starring

Robert Sheehan Robert Sheehan (born 7 January 1988) is an Irish actor. He is best known for television roles such as Nathan Young in ''Misfits'', Darren Treacy in '' Love/Hate'', and Klaus Hargreeves in ''The Umbrella Academy,'' as well as film roles such a ...

and

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

Television

Devlin produced: '' The Triangle''

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

; ''

Leverage Leverage or leveraged may refer to: *Leverage (mechanics), mechanical advantage achieved by using a lever * ''Leverage'' (album), a 2012 album by Lyriel *Leverage (dance), a type of dance connection *Leverage (finance), using given resources to ...

'', of which he has directed twelve

episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Gree ...

; ''The Librarian'' franchise; and is currently producing ''

The Outpost Outpost may refer to: Places * Outpost (military), a detachment of troops stationed at a distance from the main force or formation, usually at a station in a remote or sparsely populated location * Border outpost, an outpost maintained by a so ...

''. He also co-created '' The Visitor'' series. In 2019 Devlin began working with the Philippine media conglomerate

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

to produce a new series called ''Almost Paradise'' (originally titled ''Off Tropic.'') The series premiered in the United States, on May 30, 2020, on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ran ...

, and will be premiered on

Kapamilya Channel Kapamilya Channel (stylized as Kapamilya channel) is a 24-hour Philippine pay television network formerly known as ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under Lopez Holdings Corporation owned by the López family. The network is headquartered at th ...

in 2021. It is filmed entirely in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and the majority of the cast members are Filipino, aside from the lead—played by

Christian Kane Christian Kane (born Christopher Michael Short) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is known for his roles in the television shows ''Angel'', ''Leverage'', '' The Librarians'', and '' Into the West'', and the movies ''Just Married'', ' ...

whom Devlin also worked with on the television shows ''Leverage'' and ''The Librarians''.

Video games

Devlin was an advisor to the video game company

ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 1999. The company owns publisher Bethesda Softworks with its development unit Bethesda Game Studios (developer of ''The Elder Scrolls,'' ...

from 1999 to 2004. Additionally Devlin was involved in video game projects

The 10th Planet ''The 10th Planet'' is a cancelled space combat game that was to be published by Bethesda Softworks. Plot In the distant future, the Solar System is a ravaged battlefield, and mighty starship armadas are the tools of our destruction. Using a pre ...

and Godzilla Online.

Personal life

Devlin is married to actress

Lisa Brenner Lisa Dawn Brenner ( Goldstein; born February 12, 1974) is an American actress. Brenner played Maggie Cory on '' Another World''. She was also in '' All My Children'' as Allison Sloan. She played Anne in the 2000 film '' The Patriot''. Biograp ...

Filmography

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

Acting roles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *Snider, John C. (December 2, 2008)
"Podcast #20 – Dean Devlin"
SciFiDimensions. {{DEFAULTSORT:Devlin, Dean 1962 births Film producers from New York (state) American male actors of Filipino descent American male film actors American male screenwriters American people of Jewish descent Living people Male actors from New York City University of Southern California alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) American independent film production company founders American film directors of Filipino descent American television directors American film producers American film production company founders American television producers American television writers