American director and producer Michael Bay started his career directing music videos and commercials. This included a commercial for the American Red Cross in 1992 which received a Clio Award, and music videos for Donny Osmond, Styx and Meat Loaf. Jerry Bruckheimer recognizing his achievements on commercials offered the chance to direct one of his productions as Bay's feature film debut. [1] Bay did so with Bruckheimer's action comedy Bad Boys starring Will Smith, and Martin Lawrence. In the same year he also received a Directors Guild of America Award for his work on commercials. [2] Bay followed this with action film The Rock starring Sean Connery, and Nicolas Cage. The film was a commercial success grossing over $335 million at the worldwide box office. [3] In 1998, he directed, and produced the science fiction disaster film Armageddon which was the highest-grossing film of the year, [4] and Bay received the Saturn Award for Best Director. [5] After the success of Armageddon he also became the youngest director to gross $1 billion at the worldwide box office. [6] [7]
Three years later he directed and produced the war film Pearl Harbor (2001) which was negatively received by critics [8] but grossed over $449 million at the box office. [9] Later in the same year, Bay founded his own production company Platinum Dunes with Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form. [10] In 2003, Bay directed the action comedy sequel Bad Boys II which saw Smith and Lawrence reprise their roles. [11] Two years later he directed science fiction action film The Island (2005), and produced the horror remake The Amityville Horror (2005). [12]
In 2007, Bay directed, and produced the first film in the live-action Transformers film series based on the toy line of the same name. It was a commercial success grossing over $709 million at the box office. [13] He followed this by directing its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The film drew negative reception from critics [14] but grossed over $836 million at the box office. [15] The third instalment in the series Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) became the first of his films to gross over $1 billion at the box office. [16] Two years later Bay directed and produced crime comedy Pain & Gain (2013). From 2014-2017 he executive produced the popular pirate series Black Sails for STARZ which purported to be a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. In 2014, he directed, and produced a fourth Transformer film, Transformers: Age of Extinction , which grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and was the highest-grossing film at the worldwide box office that year. [17] Three years later, he directed the fifth entry in the Transformers film series, Transformers: The Last Knight which received generally negative reviews from critics and was the lowest-grossing worldwide in the franchise's history. [18] [19]
† | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Director
Year | Title | Credited as | Ref(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | |||
1995 | Bad Boys | Yes | No | [20] |
1996 | The Rock | Yes | No | [20] |
1998 | Armageddon | Yes | Yes | [21] |
2001 | Pearl Harbor | Yes | Yes | [22] |
2003 | Bad Boys II | Yes | No | [20] [23] |
2005 | The Island | Yes | Yes | [24] |
2007 | Transformers | Yes | Executive | [24] |
2009 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | Yes | Executive | [24] |
2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | Yes | Executive | [24] |
2013 | Pain & Gain | Yes | Yes | [25] |
2014 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | Yes | Executive | [24] |
2016 | 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi | Yes | Yes | [26] |
2017 | Transformers: The Last Knight | Yes | Executive | [27] |
2019 | 6 Underground | Yes | Yes | [28] |
2022 | Ambulance | Yes | Yes | [29] |
Producer
Actor
Year | Title | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Armageddon | NASA extra | [54] |
1999 | Mystery Men | Frat Boy | [55] |
2000 | Coyote Ugly | Photographer | [56] |
2001 | Double Down | Extra | [57] |
2003 | Bad Boys II | Crappy Car Driver | [23] |
2020 | Bad Boys for Life | Wedding MC | [58] |
2024 | Bad Boys: Ride or Die | Porsche Driver | [59] |
Other
Year | Title | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Songbird | Director of action sequences | [60] |
Executive producer
Year | Title | Network | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014–2017 | Black Sails | Starz | [61] [62] | |
2014–2018 | The Last Ship | TNT | [61] [62] | |
2016 | Billion Dollar Wreck | History | [63] | |
2018–2023 | Jack Ryan | Amazon Video | [64] [65] | |
2018–2019 | The Purge | USA Network | [66] [67] | |
2024 | Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior | Investigation Discovery | Also directed all 5 episodes | [68] |
Actor
Year | Title | Role | Network | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | Miami Vice | Goon #3 | NBC | Episode "Free Verse" | [57] |
Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo | SLED agent | CBS | Television film | [69] | |
2013 | The Neighbors | Himself | ABC | Episode "Mother Clubbers" | [70] |
2022 | Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons | Hulu | Episode "Part Two: The Secret Friend"; Documentary series | [71] | |
Michael Benjamin Bay is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), 6 Underground (2019), and Ambulance (2022). His films have grossed over US$7.8 billion worldwide, making him one of the most commercially successful directors in history.
Nickelodeon Movies Inc. is an American film production company based in Los Angeles, California and owned by Paramount Global. Originally founded in 1995, it serves as both the film production arm of the American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures, operating under its Paramount Players division.
Transformers is a series of science fiction action films based on the Transformers franchise. Michael Bay directed the first five live action films: Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014), and The Last Knight (2017), and has served as a producer for subsequent films. A sixth film Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight, was released in 2018, while a seventh film, Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr. was released in 2023.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. The film is the third installment in the Transformers film series and the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Sam Witwicky must lead the Autobots against Megatron and the Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon, in order to restore Cybertron.
Bradley Fuller is an American film and television producer. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, partnering with both Michael Bay and Andrew Form.
Allspark, formerly known as Hasbro Studios, LLC, was an American production and distribution company owned by toy and multimedia company Hasbro and based in Burbank, California that was in operation from 2009 to 2019. Originally just a television division, many of its shows were based on Hasbro properties and were broadcast on multiple media platforms, including Hasbro's joint venture Discovery Family.
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
Transformers: Age of Extinction is a 2014 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) and the fourth installment in the Transformers film series. Like its predecessor, the film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci, with supporting roles done by Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Sophia Myles, Bingbing Li, Titus Welliver, and T.J. Miller. It does not feature the original human cast from the previous three films, and instead introduces a new human cast and many new Transformers, including the Dinobots. A struggling inventor and single-father discovers a damaged truck, which turns out to be a Transformer in disguise.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction action film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback and the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), it is the second installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot film series and the eighth film overall. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film takes place 10 years after the events of Rise and follows a group of human survivors as they battle to stay alive in the wake of a deadly pandemic, while Caesar tries to maintain control over his expanding ape community which could lead to an all-out war between apes and humans.
The Purge: Election Year is a 2016 American dystopian political action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco and starring Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Mykelti Williamson. It is the sequel to The Purge: Anarchy and is the third installment in the Purge franchise. Jason Blum and Michael Bay are among the film's producers.
Transformers: The Last Knight is a 2017 science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and the fifth installment in the Transformers film series. The film is directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Ken Nolan. It stars Mark Wahlberg reprising his role from Age of Extinction, while Josh Duhamel reprises his role from the first three films, and Stanley Tucci and Anthony Hopkins join the cast. Inventor Cade Yeager is gifted a Talisman by a dying Transformer knight, and is soon recruited by an eccentric British professor to save the world from the impending threat of Unicron.