30 Facts About Mike Medavoy

Morris Mike Medavoy was born on January 21,1941 and is an American film producer and business executive.

Mike Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures and currently serves as chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures.

Mike Medavoy previously held leadership roles at TriStar Pictures and United Artists.

Morris Mike Medavoy was born in Shanghai on January 21,1941, to Michael Medavoy, a garage mechanic, and Dora Medavoy, a dress shop owner whose clientele included Chinese actresses.

Mike Medavoy's parents were Russian-speaking Ukrainian Jews; his mother was born in Harbin to immigrants from Odesan, and his father was originally from Ukraine.

The Medavoy family lived in Chile from 1947 to 1957, where Medavoy attended the Liceo Valentin Letelier de Santiago.

Mike Medavoy became a US citizen in 1963, the same year he graduated from UCLA.

Mike Medavoy joined the US Army Reserve in 1963 and served at Fort Ord in California until 1969.

In 1964, Mike Medavoy began his career in the mailroom at Universal Studios.

In 1974, Mike Medavoy joined United Artists as senior vice president of production.

In 1978, Mike Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures, a joint venture with Warner Bros.

Mike Medavoy left the company in 1994 following disagreements with Sony Pictures chairman Peter Guber.

In 1995, Medavoy co-founded Phoenix Pictures with Arnold W Messer, establishing the company under a production agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

In 2011, Mike Medavoy announced a film project based on the 2010 Chilean mining accident, in which 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days.

Mike Medavoy collaborated with Chilean officials and screenwriter Jose Rivera to develop the film, describing it as a story centered on perseverance and human resilience.

That same year, Mike Medavoy partnered with the Shanghai Film Group on two projects: a feature film adaptation of the novel The Cursed Piano, and a six-hour miniseries titled Tears of a Sparrow, both focused on the experiences of Jewish refugees in Japanese-occupied China during World War II.

Mike Medavoy worked on a film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel Dandelion Wine.

Mike Medavoy is a member of the board of directors at Tel Aviv University.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, Mike Medavoy serves on the board of trustees of the UCLA Foundation and participates in the Chancellor's Associates, the Dean's Advisory Board of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and the Alumni Association's Student Relations Committee.

Mike Medavoy is the co-chairman of the Burkle Center for UCLA's Center for International Relations and served for five years on the board of advisors at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mike Medavoy is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Mike Medavoy is a member of the advisory committee of the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York and serves on the advisory board of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Mike Medavoy served as co-finance chair for Gary Hart's 1988 presidential campaign and was involved in Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996.

Mike Medavoy supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, during which his wife, Irena Medavoy, served as co-finance chair.

In 1986, Mike Medavoy married political consultant Patricia Duff; the couple divorced in 1993.

Mike Medavoy married Russian-American philanthropist and former model Irena Gerasimenko in 1995.

Mike Medavoy was a close friend of actor Marlon Brando and serves as a co-executor of Brando's estate.

In 2002, Mike Medavoy published a memoir titled You're Only As Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films, and 100 for Which I Should Be Shot, co-written with Josh Young.

In 2009, Mike Medavoy co-authored American Idol After Iraq: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age with Nathan Gardels, editor of The National Political Quarterly.

Mike Medavoy was a producer on the following films unless otherwise noted.