Judd Apatow (born December 6, 1967) is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for producing a distinct series of critically and commercially successful comedy films, including Anchorman (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Talladega Nights (2006), Knocked Up, Superbad (both 2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers and Pineapple Express (all 2008). He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the critically acclaimed cult television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

Early life

Apatow was born in Syosset, New York to a Jewish family. His sense of humor provided access to friends while growing up. Obsessed with comedy, Apatow's childhood hero was Steve Martin. He has an older brother Robert and a younger sister Mia; his father was a real estate developer, and his mother worked at a comedy club in Southampton.

Apatow's parents divorced when he was 12 years old. His brother Robert went to live with their grandparents whilst sister Mia moved in with their mother. Apatow went to live with his father, visiting his mother on weekends. Both parents understood and supported his obsession with comedy. Apatow got his comic start while attending Syosset High School, where he hosted a program called Club Comedy on the school's 10-watt radio station WKWZ. He relied on his mother's contacts at the comedy club to gain access to the comedians; during this time, he managed to interview Steve Allen, Howard Stern, Harold Ramis and John Candy, along with then-unknowns Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Steven Wright and Garry Shandling.

Career

Early career

He began performing stand-up comedy at age 17, during his senior year of high school. In the September 1985 issue of Laugh Factory Magazine, he is listed as an Associate Editor, New York. After graduating from high school in 1985, he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the screenwriting program at University of Southern California. While at USC he organized and hosted a number of on-campus "Comedy Night" events featuring headliners such as Saturday Night Live performer Kevin Nealon. Apatow introduced the acts at these events with short standup routines of his own. He also began volunteering at Comic Relief and introducing comedians at the Improv. Apatow dropped out of USC after two years and moved into an apartment with comedian Adam Sandler, whom he met at the Improv. He also continued performing standup comedy; and he admits that although his act was well-written, he was unable to develop his own unique comedic personality.

After finding little success as a performer himself, Apatow began writing jokes for others including up-and-coming star Roseanne Barr. He appeared on HBO's 15th Annual Young Comedians Special in 1992. In 1990, Apatow met Ben Stiller outside of an Elvis Costello show, and they became friends. In 1992, Apatow produced The Ben Stiller Show for Fox. Although the show was critically acclaimed and earned Apatow and the rest of the writing staff an Emmy Award, Fox canceled the show in 1993.

Apatow's manager, Jimmy Miller, introduced him to comedian Garry Shandling, who hired Apatow as a writer and producer for The Larry Sanders Show in 1993. Apatow worked on the show for five years until the show's end in 1998. Apatow credits Garry Shandling as his mentor for influencing him to write comedy that is more character-driven. Apatow earned six Emmy nominations for his work on Larry Sanders.

Apatow was hired to re-write Lou Holtz' script for the movie The Cable Guy, which was released in 1996. He expected the film to be a huge success, but it ultimately had a mediocre box office success and poor reviews. It was during the shooting of the film, however, that Apatow met his wife, actress Leslie Mann.

Apatow's next script was entitled Making Amends and had Owen Wilson attached as a man in Alcoholics Anonymous who decides to apologize to everyone he has ever hurt. Apatow used Cameron Crowe and Crowe's movie Jerry Maguire as a role model. However, the film was never made. Apatow did an uncredited rewrite of the 1998 Adam Sandler comedy The Wedding Singer.

From 1999 to 2002, he produced the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Both shows received critical acclaim but were canceled after a season because of low ratings; USA Today media critic Susan Wloszczyna called the shows "two of the most acclaimed TV series to ever last only one season".

Apatow additionally wrote and produced 3 TV pilots that were never aired: "North Hollywood", "Sick in the Head" and "Life on Parole" (with Brent Forrester). Apatow has screened and introduced them at "The Other Network", a festival of un-aired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret.

2004–2007: Mainstream success

In 2004, Apatow produced the hit comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, starring Will Ferrell, his first hit after a string of critically acclaimed, relatively obscure shows. In 2005, he directed and co-wrote the comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell, which was nominated for best original screenplay by the Writers Guild of America. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a sleeper hit, grossing $177,378,645 worldwide and making many critics' Top 10 lists for the year. His film, Knocked Up, was released in June 2007 to wide critical acclaim. Apatow wrote the initial draft of the film on the set of Talladega Nights. In addition to being a critical success, the film was also a commercial hit, continuing Apatow's newfound mainstream success.

In August 2007, Apatow produced the film Superbad, which was written by Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg. A concept Rogen and Goldberg had created as teens, Apatow convinced Rogen to write the film as a vehicle for himself in 2000. Rogen and Goldberg finished writing the film, but were unable to find a studio interested in producing it. Apatow then enlisted Rogen and Goldberg to write Pineapple Express, a stoner action movie that he felt would be more commercial. After the success of Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow was still unable to sell both Superbad and Pineapple Express; it was only after he produced the commercial hit Talladega Nights that Sony Pictures Entertainment decided to produce both. At this point, Rogen was unable to play the lead for Superbad, as he had grown too old to play the part of Seth. Subsequently, he was cast in a supporting role as a police officer and friend Jonah Hill took his role as the high school student. Apatow credits Rogen for influencing him to make his work more "outrageously dirty." In August 2007, Superbad opened at #1 in the box office to critical acclaim, taking in $33 million in its opening weekend. Industry insiders claimed Apatow was now a brand unto himself, creating movies geared toward older audiences, who would watch his movies even when the films delved into the teen genre.

Discussing the balance his films strike between R-rated vulgarity and a more wholesome sentimentality, the writer-director explained his position as, "I like movies that are, you know, uplifting and hopeful...and I like filth!"

Apatow has helped to foster the acting careers of Steve Carell and Seth Rogen, and also tends to work with his close friends. He has frequently worked with producer Shauna Robertson, whom he met on the set of Elf. He reunited with Jason Segel and Amy Poehler for the 2001 Fox sitcom pilot, North Hollywood. He tries to keep a low budget on his projects and usually makes his movies about the work itself rather than using big stars. After his success in film, he hired the entire writing staff from Undeclared to write movies for Apatow Productions. He never fires writers and he keeps them on projects through all stages of productions. Apatow is not committed to any specific studio, but his projects are typically set up at Universal and Sony.

2008–present: Recent projects

He served as producer and writer for the musician biopic spoof Walk Hard starring John C. Reilly, which was released in December 2007. While the film received positive reviews, it was a commercial failure, having only made back half of its budget. He most recently served as producer for Drillbit Taylor starring Owen Wilson and his wife Leslie Mann and written by Seth Rogen, which opened in March 2008 to mostly negative reviews. For the rest of 2008, he served as producer for Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring former Freaks and Geeks star Jason Segel and former Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell; Step Brothers, which reunites Talladega Nights co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly; and Pineapple Express starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, both of whom starred on Freaks and Geeks. In addition, as well as serving as a co-writer for Pineapple Express, he served as co-writer for the Adam Sandler starrer You Don't Mess with the Zohan, which Sandler and Robert Smigel also co-wrote.

New York Magazine noted that [former Apatow associate] Mike White ... was "disenchanted" by Judd Apatow's later films, "objecting to the treatment of women and gay men in Apatow's recent movies", saying of Knocked Up, "At some point it starts feeling like comedy of the bullies, rather than the bullied."

Apatow has claimed to strive to avoid marginalizing women in his work and to develop authentic female characters. Following many of these accusations, in a highly publicized Vanity Fair interview, lead actress Katherine Heigl admitted that though she enjoyed working with Apatow, she had a hard time enjoying [Knocked Up] itself, calling the movie, "a little sexist," claiming that the film "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight." In response to accusations of sexism ... Apatow did not initially deny the validity of such accusations, saying flippantly, "I'm just shocked she [Heigl] used the word 'shrew.' I mean, what is this, the sixteen-hundreds?"

Much of the dialogue in his films is improvised by the actors.

Upcoming projects (2009 and beyond)

He serves as producer for the Harold Ramis-directed biblical comedy The Year One starring Jack Black and Superbad star Michael Cera, which recently wrapped filming and is set to be released June 5, 2009.

He will serve as producer on the Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin-off Get Him to the Greek, in which Russell Brand will reprise his role as notorious British rocker Aldous Snow. Jonah Hill will also star and filming is set to begin filming in the spring of 2009.

He is also set to release his third directorial feature on July 31, 2009, titled Funny People. He wrote the film by himself, and it is set to star Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as a pair of standup comedians, one of whom has a near death experience. Other co-stars include his wife Leslie Mann and Eric Bana, who was a stand up comedian in Australia before appearing in American films. The film will contain more dramatic elements than Apatow's previous directorial efforts.

It was recently announced that Apatow is producing a yet-untitled comedy based around Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson, which was written by Etan Cohen. Sacha Baron Cohen will play Holmes while Will Ferrell is set to play Watson.

It was also recently announced that he will be collaborating with Youtube star Bo Burnham on an "anti High School Musical. Burnham is set to write the script.

Recurring actors

Apatow frequently works with many of the same actors from his previous projects, including his wife Leslie Mann, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, David Krumholtz, Carla Gallo, Martin Starr and numerous others. His loyalty can be seen even down to the most insignificant role, such as Clement Blake who played a drunk partier in episode 2 of Freaks and Geeks, Beers and Weirs; he can also be seen as the homeless man in Superbad. The cast of the film is a who's who of actors that he has worked with in the past including extras.

Personal life

He admires filmmakers James L. Brooks, Hal Ashby, Robert Altman and John Cassavetes. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected his application for membership, even though he was sponsored by Academy Award-winning screenwriters Akiva Goldsman and Stephen Gaghan. He married actress Leslie Mann, whom he met on the set of The Cable Guy and who has appeared in both The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. The couple have two daughters, Maude and Iris. Both girls appeared in Knocked Up. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his family.

Filmography

Movies

Year	Title	Notes
1992	Crossing the Bridge	Associate producer
1995	Heavyweights	Writer, executive producer
1996	Celtic Pride	Story, screenplay, executive producer
	The Cable Guy	Producer
2004	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Producer
	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie	Producer (direct-to-dvd)
2005	Kicking & Screaming	Executive producer
	The 40 Year Old Virgin	Director, writer, producer
	Fun with Dick and Jane	Story, screenplay
2006	Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby	Producer
	The TV Set	Executive producer
2007	Knocked Up	Director, writer, producer
	Superbad	Producer
	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Writer, producer
2008	Drillbit Taylor	Producer
	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Producer
	You Don't Mess with the Zohan	Writer
	Step Brothers	Producer
	Pineapple Express	Writer, producer
2009	The Year One	Producer (post-production)
	Funny People	Director, writer, producer (pre-production)
TBA	Get Him to the Greek	Producer (pre-production)
	Untitled Sherlock Holmes Comedy	Producer (pre-production)

Other films

Year	Title	Notes
2006	American Storage	Executive producer (short film)

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1992-1993	The Ben Stiller Show	Co-creator, writer, executive producer
1993-1998	The Larry Sanders Show	Director, writer, co-executive producer, consulting producer
1994-1995	The Critic	Writer, consulting producer
1999-2000	Freaks and Geeks	Director, writer, executive producer
2001-2002	Undeclared	Creator, director, writer, executive producer

References

External links

• Judd Apatow at the Internet Movie Database
• E-mail exchange with Mark Brazill — published in Harper's
• The Other Network

Interviews

• Bullz-Eye.com Interview — 6 August 2005
• NPR: Morning Edition Sunday audio interview — 21 August 2005
• LA Times Article — 15 May 2007
• Knocked Up press junket interview (transcript and audio) — 18 May 2007
• NPR Fresh Air Interview w/ Seth Rogen — 31 May 2007
• Wired Magazine Story — May 2007
• Elvis Mitchell The Treatment Interview — 6 June 2007
• Rollng Stone Interview — 7 June 2007
• LA Weekly Story — 5 June 2007
• Peter Bart Essay In Variety — 31 August 2007