Dan Fogelman

Dan Fogelman
Fogelman at the premiere of Life Itself, 2018 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	River Vale, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)	screenwriter, film director, producer
Known for	Cars Bolt Tangled Crazy, Stupid, Love This Is Us Only Murders in the Building
Spouse	Caitlin Thompson ​ (m. 2015)​
Children	1 [1]

Dan Fogelman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer, whose screenplays include Cars , Bolt , Tangled , and Crazy, Stupid, Love . He also created the 2012 television sitcom The Neighbors , the 2015 fairy tale-themed musical comedy series Galavant , the 2016 drama series This Is Us , the 2016 baseball drama series Pitch , and the 2025 drama series Paradise .

Biography

Fogelman grew up in what he has called an "endearingly dysfunctional" Jewish family ^[2] in River Vale, New Jersey. ^[3] He attended Pascack Valley High School in nearby Hillsdale. ^[4] He attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1997. ^[5] He and his mother, Joyce, ^[6] took a road trip from New Jersey to Las Vegas that became the basis for his 2012 film comedy The Guilt Trip , starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a mother and son on a cross-country road trip. ^[2] His father, named Marty, became the namesake of the father in the 2012 television sitcom The Neighbors created by Fogelman, who has a sister who inspired the family daughter in this series. ^[2] He is married to Caitlin Thompson, who stars as Madison on his family drama This Is Us. They have a son, born in 2020. ^[1]

Filmography

Films

Title	Year	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
Shit Happens	2003	Yes	Yes	No	Short film
Cars	2006	No	Yes	No	Co-written with John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin and Jorgen Klubien
Fred Claus	2007	No	Yes	No
Bolt	2008	No	Yes	No	Co-written with Chris Williams Voice role: Billy
Tangled	2010	No	Yes	No
Cars 2	2011	No	Story	No	Story co-written with John Lasseter and Brad Lewis
Crazy, Stupid, Love	2011	No	Yes	No
The Guilt Trip	2012	No	Yes	Executive
Last Vegas	2013	No	Yes	No
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl	2015	No	No	Yes
Danny Collins	2015	Yes	Yes	No	Directorial debut
Life Itself	2018	Yes	Yes	Yes

Also uncredited wrote an earlier draft for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). ^[7]

Television films

Title	Year	Writer	Executive Producer	Notes
The 12th Man	2006	Yes	Yes
Lipshitz Saves the World	2007	Yes	Yes	Unsold pilot
Untitled NBA Project	2015	No	Yes
The King of 7B	2015	Yes	Yes

Television series

Title	Year(s)	Writer	Executive Producer	Creator	Notes
Like Family	2003–2004	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer (23 episodes) / Writer (Episode: ''Pilot'')
The Neighbors	2012–2014	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer (44 episodes) / Writer (8 episodes)
Galavant	2015–2016	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer (18 episodes) / Writer (4 episodes)
Grandfathered	2015–2016	Yes	Yes	No	Writer (2 episodes) / Executive producer (22 episodes)
Pitch	2016	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer (10 episodes) / Writer (3 episodes)
This Is Us	2016–2022	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer (106 episodes) / Writer (19 episodes)
Only Murders in the Building	2021–present	No	Yes	No	40 episodes
Paradise	2025	Yes	Yes	Yes	Creator and executive producer / Writer [8] (2 episodes)

References

1. "Who is Caitlin Thompson from This Is Us?". The Focus. 2020-10-28. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
2. Pfefferman, Naomi (September 10, 2012). "'The Neighbors': Aliens next door". The Jewish Journal . Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
3. Youngmisuk, Ohm. "Derrick Ward goes from movie gofer to Giant attraction", Daily News (New York) , September 30, 2007. Accessed August 19, 2013. "Dan Fogelman has a movie debuting this Christmas called Fred Claus starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti and Kevin Spacey.... Now the kid who used to run to get coffee and sandwiches is the starting running back for the New York Giants. 'It blows my mind,' says Fogelman, a lifelong Giants fan who grew up in River Vale, N.J."
4. Gladstone, Douglas J. "This Is Us Is Back (Now Stop Sobbing); NJ native Dan Fogelman never imagined his hit series This Is Us would make viewers cry so much.", New Jersey Monthly , October 6, 2017. Accessed November 2, 2017. "'When I started showing the pilot to people it started happening,' says Fogelman, who grew up in River Vale and attended Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale."
5. Krueger, Alyson (Aug 28, 2017). "This Is Us Is His". The Pennsylvania Gazette. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
6. Pfefferman, Naomi (July 26, 2011). "First crush to midlife dating". The Jewish Journal . Retrieved December 14, 2012.
7. "Indiana Jones 5". Writers Guild of America West . February 10, 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
8. Maas, Jennifer (November 14, 2024). "Paradise Trailer: Sterling K. Brown Denies Killing President James Marsden in This Is Us Creator's Hulu Drama". Variety . Retrieved November 14, 2024.

External links

• Dan Fogelman at IMDb