John Liman Hamburg (born May 26, 1970) is an American

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 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, pr ...

and producer.

Personal life

Hamburg was born to 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 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, the son of

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 ...

radio personality Joan Hamburg and Morton I. Hamburg. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1992 with a degree in history. He then attended the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

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 ...

. Hamburg is married to actress

Christina Kirk Christina Kirk (born November 10, 1970) in New York, New York, is an American actress. Career Kirk appeared in Woody Allen's ''Melinda and Melinda'' and Ira Sachs' '' Love Is Strange''. She also was in ''Clybourne Park'', a play by Bruce No ...

Career

After screening his 1996 short film ''Tick'' at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

, Hamburg wrote and directed the 1998 film '' Safe Men''. Hamburg then found greater success co-writing ''

Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless nurse ( Ben Stiller as Greg Focker) while ...

'' and '' Zoolander'', and returned to the director's chair with ''

Along Came Polly ''Along Came Polly'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg and starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. The story follows Reuben Feffer who finds his life taking a different turn when he reconnects and fall ...

'', which he also wrote. He also co-wrote the sequel ''

Meet the Fockers ''Meet the Fockers'' is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to the 2000 film ''Meet the Parents''. The film stars Robert De Niro (who was also one of the film's producers), Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streis ...

''. In 2009, Hamburg wrote and directed the hit comedy '' I Love You, Man''. He wrote the second sequel to ''

'', entitled '' Little Fockers''. In 2016, Hamburg co-wrote the sequel '' Zoolander 2'', which grossed $56 million at the box office compared to a $50 million budget, and directed and co-wrote the comedy ''

Why Him? ''Why Him?'' is a 2016 American buddy comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, co-written by Ian Helfer, and starring James Franco and Bryan Cranston with Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck and Keegan-Michael Key in supporting ...

'' for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

. In 2022, he wrote and directed the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

film '' Me Time'' starring

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning se ...

and

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mark Wahlberg, multiple accolades, including a B ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* 1970 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American film producers American male screenwriters American television directors Brown University alumni Comedy film directors Film directors from New York City Film producers from New York (state) Jewish American screenwriters Screenwriters from New York (state) Television producers from New York (state) Tisch School of the Arts alumni Writers from Manhattan {{US-film-bio-stub