David T. Friendly (born May 1, 1956) is an American film producer best known for co-producing the 2006 film ''

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road movie, road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of G ...

'', for which he was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

Career

After graduating from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

in 1978, Friendly became a journalist, a staff writer at

newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

''. He moved to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' in 1985 where he wrote about the entertainment industry and had a weekly column exploring the business side of the film industry until 1987, when he was approached by

Imagine Entertainment Imagine Entertainment, formerly Imagine Films Entertainment, also known simply as Imagine (stylized in all caps as IMAGINE), is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron ...

co-founders

Brian Grazer Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated for four Acad ...

and

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

, and he became Imagine's Vice President of Motion Pictures. With Imagine, he executive produced '' My Girl'', ''

My Girl 2 ''My Girl 2'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film. A sequel to the 1991 film '' My Girl'', it was directed by Howard Zieff from a screenplay written by Janet Kovalcik, and starring Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Chlumsky and Austin O'Brie ...

'', '' For Love or Money'', '' Greedy'', and '' The Chamber''. In 1994, Friendly joined

Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American independent film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develo ...

as President, where he produced ''

Daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlig ...

'' and '' Digging to China'', as well as overseeing the development and production of many other Davis films. With his own independent company, Friendly Productions, he has produced the 2000 film '' Here on Earth''. Friendly and producer/financier

Marc Turtletaub Marc Jay Turtletaub (born January 30, 1946) is an American film producer and former president and CEO of the Money Store. Early life and education Born in Lakewood, New Jersey, he grew up in Perth Amboy, New JerseyOrtner, Sherry, B''Not Holl ...

founded Deep River Productions in September 2000 and, after working at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

for three years where he produced ''

Big Momma's House ''Big Momma's House'' is a 2000 crime comedy film, directed by Raja Gosnell, and written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer. The film stars Martin Lawrence as an FBI agent who is tasked with tracking down an escaped convict and his loot, by goi ...

'', they produced their first feature, ''

Laws of Attraction ''Laws of Attraction'' is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Howitt, based on a story by Aline Brosh McKenna and screenplay by Robert Harling and McKenna. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. Plot High-powered divorce atto ...

''. Friendly went on to produce ''

Duane Hopwood ''Duane Hopwood'' is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matt Mulhern, and starring David Schwimmer, Janeane Garofalo, Judah Friedlander, John Krasinski and Steve Schirripa. After being featured in the Sundance Film Festiva ...

'', ''

The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It f ...

'' and ''

Big Momma's House 2 ''Big Momma's House 2'' is a 2006 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2000's ''Big Momma's House'' and the second installment of the ''Big Momma'' Trilogy. The film was directed by John Whitesell and stars Martin Lawrence reprising his rol ...

'' with Deep River under different labels before producing the 2006 film ''

'' with Turtletaub, Ron Yerxa, Albert Berger and

Peter Saraf Peter Saraf is a film, television and theatre producer. His producer credits include Little Miss Sunshine, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and Loving (2016 film). He began his career producing with director Jonathan Demme on movies such as ...

, for which they were all nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Picture and a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

for Best Film, as well as winning an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

for Best Feature and a

PGA Award The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to ...

for a Theatrical Motion Picture. After the release of ''Little Miss Sunshine'', which had been in production at Deep River Productions for six years, Friendly and Turtletaub split and left the company to work elsewhere and Friendly made a two-year producing deal with

that landed him producing roles on the

2008 film The year 2008 involved many major film events. ''The Dark Knight'' was the year's highest-grossing film, while ''Slumdog Millionaire'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture (out of eight Academy Awards). Evaluation of the year 2008 has been w ...

Meet Dave ''Meet Dave'' is a 2008 American science fiction comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and written by Bill Corbett and Rob Greenberg. It stars Eddie Murphy in the title role, alongside Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Scott Caan a ...

'' and '' Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son''. He is also set to produce the upcoming projects ''Office Romance'', ''Q School'', and ''The Warden''.

Personal life

Friendly is the son of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

American journalist Fred W. Friendly, the president of CBS News from 1964 to 1966 (whom

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...

portrayed in the

2005 film 2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Highest-grossing films The top 10 films released i ...

Good Night, and Good Luck ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (stylized as ''good night, and good luck.'') is a 2005 historical drama film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov. It stars David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Clooney, Jeff D ...

''). His brother is fellow producer Andy Friendly. He is married to

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Profile of David T. Friendly
by ''Northwestern Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Friendly, David 1956 births Living people Film producers from New York (state) Medill School of Journalism alumni