Educated at SFAI in San Francisco, Spike Jonze has been working steadily in commercials, music videos and film since the early 90’s. He directed infamous music videos such as ‘Buddy Holly’ for Weezer and ‘Sabotage’ for the Beastie Boys before segueing into film with his impressive directorial debut Being John Malkovich. With that film and his follow-up, Adaptation, both written by Charlie Kaufman, he showed a willingness to play with linear storytelling, questionable protagonists and emotional turmoil. All of which served him well in 2009, when he adapted the beloved children’s story Where The Wild Things Are. He has also made several short films, most notably We Were Once A Fairy Tale, a collaboration with Kanye West about fame and personal demons, and I’m Here, a sci-fi story about robots, sponsored by Absolut Vodka and loosely inspired by Shel Siverstein’s The Giving Tree. His next project is the upcoming film Her, which has received rave reviews at the New York Film Festival.
Also born today:
Jonathan Lipnicki, actor (23)
Saffron Burrows, actress (41)
Bob Odenkirk, actor (51)
Marc Shaiman, composer (54)
Jeff Goldblum, actor (61)
(Photo courtesy Wiki)
