Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive. He is the founder of the media production company Wondros and Lybba, a non-profit organization. He is also a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

and TED. He is the son of musician

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

and former model Sara Lownds and brother of singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan.

Early life and education

Dylan was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and is the eldest son of musician

and Sara Lownds Dylan. His father adopted Sara's daughter from a prior marriage, Maria Lownds (b. October 21, 1961). Bob and Sara Dylan divorced when Jesse was 11 years old. Dylan attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

film school A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are ...

.Fast Company, 100 Most Creative People In 2010
Fastcompany.com
Accessed February 7, 2011.

Career

Dylan began his career directing music videos for clients including

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

, Lita Ford, Public Image Limited and

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

.Public Knowledge
Publicknowledge.org
. Accessed February 7, 2011. Dylan is also known for providing the cover photo of Waits' 1992 album '' Bone Machine''.

"Yes We Can"

In 2008, he directed the will.i.am

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

Award-winning music video "Yes We Can", inspired by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's campaign for President. The film was created in three days, and featured over 30 celebrity supporters singing then-Candidate Barack Obama's New Hampshire Primary concession speech. Originally posted on YouTube, "Yes We Can" received over 26 million views just days after its release, and was recognized by AdAge in 2012 as one of the most influential political ads of all time.

Other work

His feature film directorial work consists of comedies such as '' Kicking & Screaming'', starring

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

, '' American Wedding'' and ''

How High ''How High'' is a 2001 American stoner comedy film directed by Jesse Dylan in his feature film directorial debut and written by Dustin Lee Abraham. In the film, Method Man and Redman portray two cannabis users who are visited by the ghost ...

''. Other feature-length projects include the documentary '' Crips and Bloods: Made in America,'' which explores the culture of gangs and systemic violence in South Los Angeles. He produced the film for director Stacy Peralta who premiered it at the 2008

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. Dylan also produced and directed an original television series, "CONversations with Ricky Jay," which was built around sleight of hand artist Ricky Jay.

Lybba

In 2007, Dylan launched Lybba, a non-profit organization focused on the open source healthcare movement. The project, according to Fast Company, "combines the latest verified medical data with social networking to allow patients and health-care professionals to make informed decisions." The self-professed goal of the project is "to create an online central repository of medical information."Jesse Dylan, Bob Dylan's Son, Invigorates Open Source Health Care With Lybba, September 14, 2010
Acrossad.org
. Accessed February 7, 2011. Since their foundation, Lybba has worked with such partners as the Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N) and Early Development Systems Initiative (EDSI).

''Soros''

In 2020, Dylan was the director and executive producer of ''Soros'', examining the personal history and public activism of

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

, the billionaire investor and philanthropist.

Personal life

Jesse is married to Susan Traylor and has a son, Pablo William Dylan, born in 1995, and a daughter, Feury Mae Beatrice Dylan, born in 2000.

References

External links

Wondros Healtharticle
in ''The Wall Street Journal''
Jesse Dylan/Lybba article
on Marketwatch.com
article
on Creative Commons Fellowship * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dylan, Jesse Film directors from New York City American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Turkish-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Bob Dylan American comedy film directors 1966 births Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni Artists from New York City American chief executives in the mass media industry American music video directors