Film & TV
Jake Kasdan
born 1974 · film and television director, producer
Director of the Jumanji films and Walk Hard, born in Detroit while his father, future screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, was writing ads for a local agency.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 51- Birth name
- Jacob Kasdan
- Detroit years
- 1974–1970s
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jake Kasdan was born in Detroit in 1974 to the writer Meg Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan. At the time his father was working as an advertising copywriter at the W. B. Doner agency in Detroit, a job he disliked but was good at, while writing screenplays at night; within a few years the family moved to Los Angeles, where Lawrence went on to write The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jake grew up in that world and made his feature debut as writer-director of Zero Effect (1998). He then became a key figure in the Judd Apatow comedy circle, directing and consulting on Freaks and Geeks, the series created by another Detroit-area native, Paul Feig. His films include Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its sequels, and Red One; on television he executive-produced New Girl.
Highlights
- Directed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
- Directed Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and Bad Teacher (2011)
- Director and consulting producer on Freaks and Geeks
- Son of screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, then a Detroit ad copywriter