Oren Koules (born January 31, 1961) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. He is the co-founder of

Evolution Entertainment Evolution Entertainment is an American independent entertainment management and film production company. The company was founded in 1998 by Mark Burg and Oren Koules and is best known for executive producing the ''Saw'' film series. History Gr ...

and produced the ''Saw'' film series as well as the CBS television series ''

Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...

''. Koules is also the former owner of the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play ...

and the

Helena Bighorns The Helena Bighorns are a Junior A ice hockey team in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) based in Helena, Montana United States. The team plays their home games at the 1,600-seat Helena Ice Arena. The Bighorns were members of the NorP ...

Early life

Koules was born and raised in La Grange Park,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. As a child, he took

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

lessons where he developed an interest in playing ice hockey, later dropping out of high school to pursue a career as a professional hockey player.

Career

Early career; hockey and commodities

Koules competed in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...

from 1979 to 1982. During his career he played for six different teams, including the

Medicine Hat Tigers The Medicine Hat Tigers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) who play in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Established in 1970, the team has won two national Memorial Cups, five WHL League Championships and seven Di ...

Portland Winter Hawks The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon, playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), one of three leagues making up the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Prior to the 2021-22 season, the Winterhawks split thei ...

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. They are members of the Western Hockey League (WHL) since joining the league in the 1967–68 season. Previously, they played in the Manitoba Junior Hocke ...

, and Spokane Flyers. His final year he played for the Hampton Roads Gulls,

Virginia Raiders The Salem Raiders were a professional hockey team that played in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) and Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL). They were originally the Utica Mohawks from 1978 to 1980 then became the Salem Raiders for the 1980–81 sea ...

, and Saginaw Gears. His best year was in 1980 with the Spokane Flyers when he scored 28 goals with 45 assists for a total of 73 points. Koules was not drafted by an NHL team, but he attended two tryout camps for his hometown

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

. After his hockey career, Koules became a commodities trader at the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is a global derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, an ...

in 1983. He was one of the youngest members on the floor and eventually purchased a full membership to the Exchange. He sold his seat and left the exchange in good standing in 1991.

Film career and sports

Upon arriving in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

, Koules was introduced to former ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' reporter,

Dale Pollock Dale M. Pollock (born 1950) is an American film producer, writer and film professor. A journalist whose works have been published in a number of magazines and newspapers, Pollock is also the author of a biography of George Lucas. Pollock has ...

, and the two formed Peak Productions soon after. Together, they produced films like '' Mrs. Winterbourne'' and '' Set It Off''. The early success of Peak Productions led Koules to a job as the Senior Vice President of Production at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. In 1998, Koules founded

along with film producer

Mark Burg Mark Burg is an American film producer, manager and actor. He is the co-founder of Evolution Entertainment and produced the ''Saw'' film series as well as the CBS television series ''Two and a Half Men''. Biography Burg graduated from the Roy ...

, with their first major production being the 2002

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

John Q John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

'' starring

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

. In 2001, Koules became the owner of the Helena Bighorns, a Junior A hockey team, also purchasing the Helena Ice Area. In 2003, Koules and

saw a seven-minute teaser of a film written by Australian screenwriters,

Leigh Whannell Leigh Whannell (; is an Australian screenwriter, actor, film producer, and film director. He is best known for writing films directed by his friend James Wan, including ''Saw'' (2004), ''Dead Silence'' (2007), '' Insidious'' (2010), and '' Insi ...

and

James Wan James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and comic book writer. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the '' Saw'' and ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of The Conjur ...

, and agreed to produce the film. The film would later become the original '' Saw'' film that was released in 2004. The budget for the film was $1.2 million with $1 million of the funding coming direct from Koules and Burg. Production was done under a newly formed subsidiary of Evolution Entertainment called

Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures is an American production company and a division of Evolution Entertainment that specializes in horror and thriller movies. The company was founded by Evolution's Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Gregg Hoffman in 2004. The compa ...

. The film turned in the ''Saw'' franchise with the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

released in 2005 and the franchise making $420 million at the box office by 2007. Evolution Entertainment was also responsible for the production of ''

'' starting in 2003. In 2007, Koules started his pursuit to purchase the Tampa Bay Lightning from

Palace Sports and Entertainment Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) is an American sports and entertainment company owned by Tom Gores. Its largest subsidiary is the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. The company was founded by Bill Davidson, and traces it ...

. In 2008, he agreed to purchase the team through OK Hockey LLC, an investment group he controlled, for $206 million. The group sold the team to Jeffrey Vinik, a minority owner in the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, for $160 million in 2010. In June 2011, Koules sold his ownership in Evolution Entertainment, but continued to own and oversee the ''Saw'' franchise and ''Two and a Half Men''. The Saw franchise has grossed more than from

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

and retail sales as of 2021.

Personal life

Koules married talent agent Risa Shapiro in 1994. They had one son,

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

, in that same year. Miles Koules is currently a professional ice hockey player, playing for the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL (Columbus Blue Jackets). Koules and Shapiro separated in 2005 and eventually divorced in 2007. In 2008, Koules married Shereen Arazm, a businesswoman and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

. They met by happenstance on a flight from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, where Arazm is originally from, to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

where Koules was filming ''Saw II''. The pair have two daughters together, Sam and Neve.

Filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

;As an actor ;Thanks

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koules, Oren 1961 births Living people Film producers from Illinois American men's ice hockey left wingers American people of Greek descent Atlantic Coast Hockey League players Brandon Wheat Kings players Calgary Wranglers (WHL) players Great Falls Americans players Ice hockey people from Illinois Medicine Hat Tigers players National Hockey League executives National Hockey League owners Portland Winterhawks players Saginaw Gears players Spokane Flyers players Ice hockey players from Chicago Tampa Bay Lightning executives People from La Grange Park, Illinois