Jevon O'Neill, from

Blackpool, England Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

, is an English writer, director and producer of feature films and

television advertisements A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

Career

In 1983, O'Neill completed courses in drama and film at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

. After college, he directed and produced TV commercials for a variety of companies, including United Biscuits, Pearl Assurance, British Gas, Nike, ''The Sunday Times'', and others. O'Neill's first film, ''Bob's Weekend'', was distributed by

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

and shown on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

. His second film, ''Out of Season'' starring

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in '' Giant'' (1956). In the next ten year ...

and

Gina Gershon Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat'' (1988), '' Showgirls'' (1995), '' Bound'' (1996), ''Face/Off'' (1997), '' The Insider'' (1999), '' Demonlover'' (2002) ...

, filmed in Romania. It screened at

The Hollywood Film Festival The Hollywood Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in Los Angeles, California, USA 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 Continental ...

in 2004 and was selected to show at the festival alongside potential blockbusters. In March 2000, O'Neill was scheduled to direct the feature film ''Mr Benn'', with actor John Hannah playing the role of Mr Benn and

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 ...

playing the shopkeeper. O'Neill's film company, Erinfilm, purchased the movie rights from ''

Mr Benn Mr Benn is a character created by David McKee who originally appeared in several children's books. The first, ''Mr Benn Red Knight'', was published in 1967, followed by three more; these became the basis for an animated television series of the ...

'' TV series' creator

David McKee David John McKee (2 January 1935 – 6 April 2022) was a British writer and illustrator, chiefly of children's books and animations. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, he was UK nominee for the biennial, international Hans Chris ...

. Winchester Entertainment, based in London, is producing the film.

Awards

In 1996, ''Bob's Weekend'' won the

Sutherland Trophy The Sutherland Trophy was created in 1958 by the British Film Institute as an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year". History In 1997, the criteria changed t ...

from the British Film Institute Awards. ''Bob's Weekend'' was a 1996 nominee for the Emden Film Award at the Emden International Film Festival.

Personal life

O'Neill lives in

Edlesborough Edlesborough is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. Edlesborough is also next to the village of Eaton Bray just over the county boundary in Bedfordshire, about west-south-west of Dunstabl ...

with his children and wife.

Filmography

*''Bob's Weekend'' (1996, as writer, producer, and director) *''Out of Season'' (2004, as writer and director)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Jevon Alumni of the University of Manchester British film directors British film producers Living people People from Blackpool People from Buckinghamshire Year of birth missing (living people)