Jonathan Gray (born 24 August 1980 in Cannes, France) is a French-American entrepreneur, investor, and film and TV producer. He founded the strategic investment firm First Idea in 2008, and the LA-based film production company The Hideaway Entertainment in 2017.

Biography

Gray is the son of French-American Holocaust survivor and writer Martin Gray. He attended the Carnot high school in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, with a literature-focused curriculum, and then attended the

SKEMA Business School SKEMA Business School ("School of Knowledge Economy and Management") is a leading French business school ("Grande Ecole") with campuses across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. It was established in 2009 through the merger of Ecole Supér ...

Sophia Antipolis Sophia Antipolis is a 2,400 hectare technology park in southeast France, and as of 2021 home to 2,500 companies, valued today at more than 5.6 billion euros and employing more than 38,000 people counting more than 80 nationalities. The park is ...

. At 16 years old, he worked for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

to welcome stars in Cannes and organize their stay. At the age of 20, Jonathan Gray became the assistant of a real estate developer in Southern France. From 2003 to 2019, he founded and managed his own events company, JG Events, specialized in luxury events. In 2005, he launched a real estate company representing high-end properties on the

Côte d'azur The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

. In 2007, the company merged with the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based real estate broker Beauchamp Estates, making Jonathan Gray co-owner of the company and its exclusive representative in France. He sold the Château Miraval to

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

and

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

, the Villa les Cèdres in

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (; ; Italian language, Italian: ''San Giovanni Capo Ferrato'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southe ...

, and La Belle Époque in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. From 2005 to 2009, Jonathan Gray was also the founder and managing director of the French subsidiary of the high-end concierge service Quintessentially. In 2008, he founded First Idea International Ltd., a strategic investment consultancy with a focus on the post-oil economy in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. In 2017, Gray launched the independent film production company The Hideaway Entertainment, marking the start of his career as a producer. With The Hideaway Entertainment, Jonathan Gray was involved in the production of the films ''

Mile 22 ''Mile 22'' is a 2018 American Spy film, espionage action thriller film directed by Peter Berg and written by Lea Carpenter, from a story by Carpenter and Graham Roland. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Iko Uwais, John Malkovich, Lauren Cohan, and R ...

'' (2018), '' Men in Black: International'' (2019), '' Bloodshot'' (2020), and ''

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

'' (2021). In 2019, Jonathan Gray launched the company Intelligent Design Agency (iDeA) which develops "idea-first" technologies for large scale projects, including

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

's futurist city

Neom Neom (styled NEOM; , ) is an arcology and planned city being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk Province. Launched in 2017 by crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, the site is at the northern tip of the Red Sea, due east of Egypt across the Gulf of A ...

. In May 2023, he was appointed to the board of directors of Prairie Operating Co., a

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

-quoted energy investment company.

Filmography

References

External links

Jonathan Gray
at IMDb
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Jonathan 1980 births Living people French investors American investors French film producers American film producers American film production company founders American businesspeople in real estate