Movies on the blog: Alyson Stoner: Shawn Levy

Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian-American director, producer, and actor who directed the comedy films Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum and its sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, as well as Date Night, The Internship, and the sci-fi sports drama Real Steel. Cumulatively, Levy's films have grossed $2 billion at the worldwide box office, making him one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of the past decade. He has also directed many television shows, including Cousin Skeeter, The Famous Jett Jackson, and Pepper Dennis.

Life and career

Levy was born in Montreal, Quebec to Jewish parents. As a teenager, he attended St. George's High School and Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in New York. Levy graduated from Yale University in 1989 majoring in Performing Arts. Levy has a production deal with 20th Century Fox. He produced the 2012 Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill comedy The Watch, which was directed by Akiva Schaffer, and has over a dozen projects in development for production in the near future. These include Rosaline, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, The Berenstain Bears, Sesame Street, 10 Best Days of My Life, Fight Before Christmas, Alone for the Holidays, Mr. Men, Fancy Nancy, King Kong, The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto, The 39 Clues: The Movie, and The Deadliest Warrior. His newly formed television company, 21 Laps/Adelstein, produced the ABC hit Last Man Standing with Tim Allen. He has also been announced as the director of Fox's new Frankenstein adaptation, the James Cameron-produced 3D sci-fi remake Fantastic Voyage and the film version of Minecraft.

Levy's acting debut was in Zombie Nightmare (1986), a low-budget horror film in which he portrayed the character Jim Bratten, the leader of a group of teenagers and secondary antagonist. The film is best known for being featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He also appeared in the 1988 Liberace: Behind the Music, as a post-Scott Thorson acquaintance of Liberace. His television resume consists of a guest spot on 21 Jump Street, a recurring role on Beverly Hills, 90210, and more recently, a role on 30 Rock as TV Producer Scottie Shofar.

He is known professionally as Shawn Levy, not to be confused with Shawn Anthony Levy, the American film critic and author who also signs his work as Shawn Levy.

Levy is married to Serena, with whom he has four children. Levy is Jewish.