Gil Cates Jr. (born October 4, 1969) is an American producer and director, and former actor. His 2006 documentary film Life After Tomorrow , which he co-produced and directed with Julie Stevens, won awards for both Best Documentary and Best Director at the Phoenix Film Festival and had its premiere on Showtime. He is the Executive Director / CEO of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. [1]
Born in New York City, he directed the feature film "The Surface", starring Sean Astin and Chris Mulkey, and co-produced the 2013 film Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad. In addition Cates is the director of the 2001 film The Mesmerist starring Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Capshaw, the 2002 film A Midsummer Night's Rave , the 2006 documentary film Life After Tomorrow , the 2008 film Deal starring Burt Reynolds, the 2009 gambling documentary "Pass the Sugar", [2] and the 2011 film Lucky starring Colin Hanks, Ari Graynor, and Ann-Margret. Cates made his television directorial debut with was an episode of the NBC comedy Joey starring Emmy winner Matt LeBlanc and is currently directing a documentary short chronicling the journey of one of the first refugee families to flee Ukraine and arrive in the US after the Russian invasion.
Cates television credits include the 1991 Matlock Season 6 two-part episode The Suspect, the 1992 Major Dad Season 3 episode Three Angry Marines, the 1992 Silk Stalkings Season 1 episode Internal Affair, and the 1993 Doogie Howser, M.D. gay-themed Season 4 episode Spell it M-A-N.
Cates film credits include parts in the 1992 John Landis film Innocent Blood, the 1997 award-nominated film Lovelife , and the 1999 NetForce .
Cates has two children and resides in Los Angeles. He is the son of Jane Betty Dubin and television producer and film director Gilbert Cates, and is a cousin to the film actress Phoebe Cates.
Alan Smithee is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project. Coined in 1968 and used until it was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) when directors, dissatisfied with the final product, proved to the satisfaction of a guild panel that they had not been able to exercise creative control over a film. The director was also required by guild rules not to discuss the circumstances leading to the movie or even to acknowledge being the project's director.
Carole Penny Marshall was an American actress, film director, and producer. She is best known for her role as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983), receiving three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her portrayal.
Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. Her career began after she appeared in the shows In the House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue, and Moesha. Lathan later garnered further prominence after starring in the 1998 superhero film Blade, which followed with film roles in The Best Man (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Disappearing Acts (2000), and Brown Sugar (2002).
Keith David is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media.
Gil Bellows is a Canadian actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. Upon graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in films and television. Bellows also earned critical acclaim for his stage performances in The Snake and the Vein (1990) and Flaubert's Latest (1992). For his first starring role in Love and a .45 (1994), his acting received positive reviews. Bellows gained wide attention for his performance as Tommy a pivotal role in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including “Best Picture” and is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made.
Andrew Victor McLaglen was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart.
Michael A. Goorjian is an American actor, filmmaker, and writer. Goorjian won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for his role as David Goodson in the television film David's Mother (1994). He is also known for his role as Justin, Neve Campbell’s love interest on the series Party of Five (1994–2000), as well as Heroin Bob in the film SLC Punk! (1998) and its sequel, Punk's Dead (2016). As a director, Goorjian achieved recognition for his first major independent film, Illusion (2004), which he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Kirk Douglas.
Oscar Boetticher Jr., known as Budd Boetticher, was an American film director. He is best remembered for a series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.
Justin Lin is a Taiwanese-American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. His films have grossed over $3 billion USD worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), the Fast & Furious franchise from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) to Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and F9 (2021), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). He is also known for his work on television programs like Community, and True Detective.
Samuel Kent Harris is an American pop and musical theatre musician as well as a television, theatre and film actor.
Paris K. C. Barclay is an American television director, producer, and writer. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner and is among the busiest single-camera television directors, having directed nearly 200 episodes of television to date, for series such as NYPD Blue, ER, The West Wing, CSI, Lost, The Shield, House, Sons of Anarchy, In Treatment, Glee, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Watcher, and American Horror Story: NYC. He also serves as an executive producer on many of the shows he directs, and occasionally as a writer or co-creator as well. From 2013 to 2017, Barclay served two terms as the President of the Directors Guild of America.
Richard Thomas Correll is an American television actor, director, writer, and producer. After working as an actor during his childhood and teenage years, he transitioned to directing in the 1990s, and he has gone on to direct episodes for series such as That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, Cory in the House, The Suite Life on Deck, I'm in the Band, How to Rock, A.N.T. Farm, Jessie, Austin & Ally, Liv and Maddie, K.C. Undercover, Bunk'd, and Raven's Home. Correll also co-created Hannah Montana, alongside Michael Poryes and Barry O'Brien.
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A Midsummer Night's Rave is a 2002 American film adapted from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream released on November 1, 2002. The film stars Corey Pearson, Lauren German, Andrew Keegan, Chad Lindberg, and Sunny Mabrey; and was directed by Gil Cates Jr. It is set at a rave, rather than the forest where most of the original is set. The film received little attention from professional movie critics, but is considered a success with teen audiences, and has been used as an exemplar for a category of movies in more academic publications.
Jean de Segonzac is an American director, screenwriter and cinematographer who has worked in documentaries and television programs. Most of his work has been in gritty, cinéma vérité-style law enforcement TV dramas.
The Geffen Playhouse is a not-for-profit theater company founded by Gilbert Cates in 1995.
Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, screenwriter and producer best known for the documentary Spellbound (2003), The Office, the fiction film Rocket Science (2007) and Comedy Central’sReview. Blitz is a two-time Emmy Award winner, the winner of the Directing Prize at Sundance and an Academy Award nominee.
Seth Lewis Gordon is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and film editor.
Life After Tomorrow is a 2006 American documentary film. Executive producers Motty Reif and Chris Kelly, produced and directed by Gil Cates Jr. and Julie Stevens, who played Tessie in the 1979 and Pepper in the 1981 Broadway productions, about the lives of the women who had once played Little Orphan Annie or one of the other orphans in the musical Annie.
Ram Bergman is an Israeli film producer. He is known for producing Brick (2005), The Brothers Bloom (2008), Looper (2012), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Knives Out (2019), all of which were written and directed by Rian Johnson.