Jonathan Charles Turteltaub (born August 8, 1963) is an American film director, writer and producer.

Early life, family and education

Turteltaub was born on August 8, 1963, 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 ...

, one of two children born to comedy writer

Saul Turteltaub Saul Turteltaub (May 5, 1932 – April 9, 2020) was an American comedy writer and producer. He was nominated for Emmy Awards in 1964 and 1965 as part of the writing team for ''That Was the Week that Was'', and in 1968 for ''The Carol Burnett Show' ...

(best known for his work on ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom '' Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom from 1962 to ...

'') and his wife, Shirley Steinberg. His parents are both

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 ...

. Turteltaub graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of Sound film, talkies, the school descends from America's first ...

Career

Jon Turteltaub has directed successful mainstream films for the Walt Disney Studios, including; ''

3 Ninjas ''3 Ninjas'' is a series of action comedy family films about the adventures of three young brothers who are trained by their Japanese grandfather in the art of ''ninjutsu''. Victor Wong is the only cast member to appear in all four films. C ...

'' (1992), ''

Cool Runnings ''Cool Runnings'' is a 1993 American sports comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow, and Michael Goldberg, and a story by Siefert and Michael Ritchie. It is loosely based on the debut of the J ...

'' (1993), '' While You Were Sleeping'' (1995), ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

'' (1996), ''

Instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing innate (inborn) elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a very short to me ...

'' (1999), ''

Disney's The Kid ''The Kid'' (also known as ''Disney's The Kid'') is a 2000 American fantasy comedy-drama film, directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Audrey Wells. The film follows a 40-year-old image consultant (Bruce Willis) who is mysteriously confronted b ...

'' (2000), ''

National Treasure A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...

'' (2004), as well as its 2007 sequel '' National Treasure: Book of Secrets'', and ''

The Sorcerer's Apprentice "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" () is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1797. The poem is a ballad in 14 stanzas. Story The poem begins as an old sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving his apprentice with chores to perform. Tired of ...

'' (2010), as well as ''

The Meg ''The Meg'' is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, loosely based on the 1997 novel '' Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror'' by Steve Alten. The film stars Jas ...

'' (2018) for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

. Turteltaub produced the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television series ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

''. He also directed the show's first three episodes. In 1996, his production company Junction Entertainment had a film deal with Disney, and in 2006, signed a deal with Paramount Television, which would soon become CBS Paramount Network Television. In 2020, Turteltaub directed two episodes of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's musical TV series ''

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist ''Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist'' is an American jukebox musical comedy-drama television series created by Austin Winsberg that premiered on January 7, 2020, on NBC. The series stars Jane Levy as Zoey Clarke, a software developer who discovers ...

'' including the episode "Zoey's Extraordinary Glitch", which ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' listed as one of the 10 best episodes of television that year.

Personal life

Turteltaub is married to British television writer and producer Amy Eldon, co-founder of Creative Visions Foundation. Their family resides in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, next door to his in-laws. Amy's brother photojournalist

Dan Eldon Daniel Robert Eldon (18 September 1970 – 12 July 1993) was a British-American photojournalist, artist and activist killed in Somalia while working as a Reuters photojournalist. His journals were published posthumously in four volumes by Chro ...

was stoned to death alongside several other journalists in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

in 1993. Turteltaub serves on the Creative Council of

Represent.Us RepresentUs is a non-partisan not-for-profit organization focused on ending political corruption in the United States. Funded by donations and grants, it is run mostly by volunteers aligned in a grassroots organizing network, and it has broug ...

, a

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

anti-corruption organization. Ahead of the

2020 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and vi ...

, Turteltaub directed an anti-

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

video for the

Lincoln Project The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) founded in December 2019 by moderate conservatives and former Republican Party members who oppose U.S. President Donald Trump and Trumpism. During the 2020 presidential elect ...

Filmography

Film Television

References

External links

*
Jon Turteltaub – MIPtalk.com Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turteltaub, Jon 1963 births Film producers from New York (state) American television directors German-language film directors USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Wesleyan University alumni 20th-century American Jews Living people Film directors from New York City 21st-century American Jews