Jonathan Charles Turteltaub (born August 8, 1963) is an American film director and producer.

Life and career

Turteltaub was born on August 8, 1963 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 ...

, one of two children born to comedy writer

Saul Turteltaub Saul Turteltaub (May 5, 1932 – April 9, 2020) was an American comedy writer and producer. He was nominated for Emmy Awards in 1964 and 1965 as part of the writing team for '' That Was the Week that Was'', and in 1968 for '' The Carol Burnett Sh ...

(best known for his work on ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom '' Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the Unit ...

'') and his wife, Shirley Steinberg. His parents are both

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 ...

. Turteltaub graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

and the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...

. He has directed successful mainstream films for the Walt Disney Studios, including; ''

3 Ninjas ''3 Ninjas'' is a series of action comedy family films about the adventures of three young brothers who are trained by their Japanese grandfather in the art of Ninjutsu. Victor Wong is the only cast member to appear in all four films. Chara ...

'' (1992), ''

Cool Runnings ''Cool Runnings'' is a 1993 American sports film directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Malik Yoba, and John Candy. It is loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team's debut in competiti ...

'' (1993), '' While You Were Sleeping'' (1995), ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfrie ...

'' (1996), ''

Instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...

'' (1999), '' Disney's The Kid'' (2000), '' National Treasure'' (2004), as well as its 2007 sequel '' National Treasure: Book of Secrets'', and ''

The Sorcerer's Apprentice "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (german: "Der Zauberlehrling", link=no, italic=no) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1797. The poem is a ballad in 14 stanzas. Story The poem begins as an old sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving ...

'' (2010), as well as '' The Meg'' (2018) for Warner Brothers. Turteltaub produced the CBS television series ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...

'', and also directed the show's first three episodes. In 1996, his production company Junction Entertainment had a film deal with Disney, and in 2006, signed a deal with Paramount Television, which would soon go on to become CBS Paramount Network Television. In 2020, Turteltaub directed two episodes of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist'' including the episode "Zoey's Extraordinary Glitch", which ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' listed as one of the 10 best episodes of television that year.

Personal life

Turteltaub is married to British television writer and producer Amy Eldon, sister of photojournalist

Dan Eldon Daniel Robert Eldon (18 September 1970 – 12 July 1993) was a British-Kenyan photojournalist, artist and activist, killed in Somalia while working as a Reuters photojournalist. His journals were published posthumously in four volumes by Chronic ...

, who was stoned to death alongside several other journalists in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

in 1993. Turteltaub and his family reside in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

, next door to his in-laws. He serves on the Creative Council of Represent.Us, a

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

anti-corruption organization. Ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Turteltaub directed an anti-

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

video for the

Lincoln Project The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) formed in late 2019 by former and current moderate Republicans. During the 2020 presidential election, it aimed to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump and defeat all Re ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Jon Turteltaub – MIPtalk.com Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turteltaub, Jon 1963 births Film producers from New York (state) American television directors German-language film directors USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Wesleyan University alumni 20th-century American Jews Living people Film directors from New York City 21st-century American Jews