Boaz Yakin (, born June 20, 1965) is an

Israeli-American Israeli Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent. The Israeli-American community, while predominantly Jewish, also includes various ethnic and religious minorities reflective of Israel's diverse demographics. This c ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, and producer based 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 ...

. He has written screenplays to films like ''The Rookie'', ''Fresh'', '' A Price Above Rubies'', ''Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'', and ''Now You See Me'', and has directed the 2000 sports drama ''

Remember the Titans ''Remember the Titans'' is a 2000 American biographical sports drama film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay by Gregory Allen Howard is loosely based on the true story of coach Herman Boone, portrayed b ...

'' and the 2012 Jason Statham action film ''Safe''. As a producer he has collaborated frequently with filmmaker

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...

and served as executive producer for the first two entries in the ''Hostel'' franchise.

Early life

Yakin was born in

. Both his parents are Israeli-born, and met in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

while studying miming with

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French mime artist and actor most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", performing professionally worldwide ...

.Biography of Boaz Yakin
in allrovi.com His father's family are of Syrian Jewish and Egyptian Jewish descent, and his mother's family is of

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

descent. He attended the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science is a State school, public Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in the Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science ...

, where he was classmates in 1983 with actor

Jon Cryer Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor. Born into a show business family, he made his film debut with a lead role in ''No Small Affair'' (1984); his breakout role was as Duckie in the John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughe ...

. He studied filmmaking at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

then at

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 ...

and made his first deal for a screenplay at age 19.

Career

After finishing school, Yakin worked in the film industry, developing projects for several companies, and saw his first screenplay reach the screen in 1989, when '' The Punisher'', a vehicle for

Dolph Lundgren Hans "Dolph" Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957) is a Swedish actor, filmmaker, and martial artist. Lundgren made his acting debut in 1985 with a cameo in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film ''A View to a Kill''. Also that year, he h ...

, was released. Yakin's next screenplay was '' The Rookie'', starring

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

and

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television. Sheen has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award as well as ...

. Wanting to take on more personal material, Yakin drew from his experiences growing up in New York's inner city for his next screenplay, '' Fresh''. Yakin opted to direct his screenplay for ''Fresh'' himself. The film won critical acclaim, earning the Filmmaker's Trophy at the 1994

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 ...

. Yakin went back to his youth for inspiration on his next project. His experience with the Chassidic community informed his screenplay for '' A Price Above Rubies''. Yakin rebounded with his next assignment, which was his first film that he directed but did not write; ''

'' was a major box office success, and moved him to the upper tier of bankable Hollywood talents. His

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

drama '' Death in Love'' debuted in January 2008. Yakin describes it as a movie about the failure of the family and inability to change your past.Davis, Barry
"Sometimes you have to invest yourself"
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'', July 16, 2008. He was a member of the US Dramatic Jury at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In 2010, it was announced that Yakin would direct ''Sympathy for the Devil'', with Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Duhamel in the cast. The project was still in

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

as of 2014. Yakin's family film ''

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

'' was released by Warner Bros. and MGM on June 26, 2015. His 2020 film, ''Aviva,'' was set to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, but was released publicly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

Yakin was married to Israeli

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

director

Alma Har'el Alma Har'el (; born July 2, 1975) is an Israeli-American music video and film director. She is best known for her 2019 feature film debut '' Honey Boy'', for which she won a Directors Guild of America Award. Her 2011 documentary '' Bombay Beach ...

. The couple divorced in 2012.

Filmography

Producer only * '' 2001 Maniacs'' (2001) * '' Bombay Beach'' (2011) (Documentary) Executive producer only * ''

Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

'' (2005) * '' Hostel: Part II'' (2007)

Books

*''Marathon'', a graphic novel illustrated by Joe Infurnari, First Second, 2012 *''Jerusalem'', a graphic novel illustrated by

Nick Bertozzi Nick Bertozzi (born May 26, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist, as well as a commercial illustrator and teacher of cartooning. His series ''Rubber Necker'' from Alternative Comics won the 2003 Harvey Awards for best new talent an ...

, First Second, 2013

References

External links

All-Movie Guide entry for Boaz Yakin
*
About Boaz Yakin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yakin, Boaz 1965 births American male screenwriters Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni Screenwriters from New York City Jewish American screenwriters American people of Israeli descent American people of Egyptian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Syrian-Jewish descent American people of Syrian descent American people of Egyptian descent City College of New York alumni Film directors from New York City Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli Mizrahi Jews The Bronx High School of Science alumni Sundance Film Festival award winners