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James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks has won three Academy Awards, received 8 Academy Award nominations and 15 Emmy Awards during his long and prolific career. He began his television career as a writer and went on to help create such landmark TV hits as Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant, Room 222, The Tracey Ullman Show and The Simpsons. He also wrote and produced the television movie Thursday's Game.

Brooks began working in film in 1979 when he wrote the screenplay for Starting Over, which he co-produced with Alan J. Pakula. In 1983 Brooks wrote, produced and directed Terms of Endearment, for which he earned three Oscars including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. In 1987, he wrote, produced and directed Broadcast News, which won the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Picture and Best Screenplay and earned two Oscar nominations. Through Gracie Films, Brooks served as executive producer on Cameron Crowe's directorial debut Say Anything, produced War of the Roses and co-produced Big with Robert Greenhut.

In 1990, Brooks produced and directed his first play Brooklyn Laundry, a Los Angeles production starring Glenn Close, Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern. Brooks' company, Gracie Films, made an overall deal with Sony Pictures in 1990. He produced two new series for ABC (The Critic, another prime time animated series starring Jon Lovitz, and Phenom starring Judith Light, William Devane and Angela Goethals). For Columbia Pictures, he directed I'll Do Anything starring Nick Nolte, Albert Brooks and Julie Kavner.

In 1996 Brooks was the executive producer on Wes Anderson's debut feature Bottle Rocket and producer on Crowe's Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Renee Zellweger. In 1997, Brooks co-wrote, produced and directed As Good As It Gets, starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and both Nicholson and Hunt won Oscars for their performances.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.
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James L. Brooks Facts

OccupationWriter, Producer, Director
BirthdayMay 9, 1940 (83)
SignTaurus
BirthplaceNorth Bergen, New Jersey, USA
Awards1984 Academy Awards: Best Director (for Terms of Endearment)

Selected Filmography

Champion Road
I'll Do Anything
Dreams On Spec
Real Life
Hollywood's Best Film Directors: James L. Brooks
Modern Romance
The Mayberry Chef
How Do You Know
Riding in Cars with Boys
Spanglish
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