Thunder Levin | |
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| Born | Thunder Levin New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Sharknado |
Thunder Levin is an American screenwriter and director, known for writing the first four Sharknado television films. [1] [2] Levin's work was largely responsible for the resurgence of sharksploitation films. [3]
Levin was born and raised in New York City. His father, Michael, was an award-winning journalist, while his mother, Glenis, was an immigrant from Liverpool, England.
He graduated from Hunter College High School, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film from New York University. [4]
Levin moved to Los Angeles at the age of 23. In the late 1980s, he worked as a still photographer on three films for the film producer Roger Corman. [1]
His feature-film directorial debut was the 2008 horror comedy Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! , [5] [6] starring C. Thomas Howell. [5] [7]
Levin subsequently wrote and directed multiple films for production company The Asylum, [8] including the 2012 science-fiction action film American Warships and the 2013 science fiction film AE: Apocalypse Earth .
In 2013, Levin wrote the made-for-television disaster film Sharknado , about a tornado of shark-infested seawater. The film's debut on the Syfy cable channel attracted nearly 1.37 million viewers and generated nearly 5,000 tweets a minute at its peak. [9]
In 2014, Levin wrote a sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One , which had 3.9 million viewers. [10] Levin subsequently wrote two more sequels, 2015's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and 2016's Sharknado: The 4th Awakens .
Sharknado became a pop-culture phenomenon, ultimately spawning five sequels, a video game, a book, a one-shot comic book, a documentary, and a mockumentary.
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Tidal Wave | 2019 | story by | [11] |
| The Last Sharknado: It's About Time | 2018 | based on characters created by | also appeared as "Bar Patron" [10] |
| Megalodon | 2018 | story by | |
| Geo-Disaster | 2017 | director, written by | |
| Sharknado 5: Global Swarming | 2017 | based on characters created by | |
| Creature Features | 2017 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Mind Blown | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: The 4th Awakens | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary |
| Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | 2015 | written by | also appeared as "Mr. Benchley from The Post" |
| Infolist Pre Comic-Con Bash | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary short |
| Weekends with Alex Witt | 2014 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Sharknado 2: The Second One | 2014 | written by | |
| Sharknado | 2013 | written by | |
| From the Sea | 2013 | screenplay by | |
| AE: Apocalypse Earth | 2013 | director, written by | |
| American Warships | 2012 | director, writer | |
| 200 M.P.H. | 2011 | written by | |
| Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! | 2008 | director, written by, executive producer | |
| Venice Beach Sketches | 2002 | editor | |
| Soulmates A.K.A. Evil Lives | 1992 | director | |
| Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Saturday the 14th Strikes Back | 1988 | still photographer | |
| Hydrosub: 2021 | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate / appeared as "Crewman" | video game |
| The Rescue of Pops Ghostly | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate | video game |
| International | |
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| National | |
