Mark Maxey (born May 13, 1969) is an American producer, writer and director of film and television best known for the
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
''
Up to Snuff'' (2019),
about musician/composer
W. G. Snuffy Walden
William Garrett Walden, known as W. G. Snuffy Walden (born February 13, 1950), is an American musician and composer of film and television soundtracks. Walden is an Primetime Emmy Award, Emmy Award winner for the theme music to ''The West Wing'' ...
.
Early life
Mark Maxey was born on May 13, 1969, in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, the son of concert marimbist
Linda Maxey
Linda Maxey, concert marimbist
Linda Maxey is a celebrated concert marimbist virtuoso and was the first marimbist presented by Community Concerts, a division of Columbia Artists Management in New York that presented concerts to a network of subscr ...
and clarinetist
Lawrence Maxey. The family moved to
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...
where Maxey's father taught at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
School of Music for the next 37 years.
In Lawrence, the Maxey family lived across the street from the
Centron film studio, where, as a boy, Maxey first entered the industry in small roles and as an extra.
He was involved in the Lawrence Community Theater while in high school, and worked for the Theater after graduating from
Lawrence High School in 1987.
In 1990 he moved to Washington, D.C. to begin working in television production.
He became a vice president at
Yorktel.
Professional
Maxey is a television and film producer who wrote, directed and produced the
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
''
Up to Snuff'' (2019) about musician and composer
W.G. Snuffy Walden.
The film is a story of redemption and chronicles Walden's excesses as a touring rock and roll musician in the 1970's and '80's, and his decision to choose sobriety and reinvent himself as a television and film composer.
In 2014, Maxey won an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for ''The Honors: A Salute to American Heroes'' which he produced.
Maxey's other productions include television specials such as ''American Valor'', ''Salute to Veterans'', ''The Wounded Warrior Experience'', and the ''National Memorial Day Parade'', each of which were broadcast nationally on cable television. Maxey also created the
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
primetime special ''On Stage at the Kennedy Center: A Holiday Concert for the Troops'' with the late
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy Awards, Emmy, Grammy Awards, Grammy, Academy Awards, Oscar, and Tony Awards, Tony awards, a feat ...
.
In 2011, Maxey co-founded with Brad Russell the
Washington West Film Festival Maxey serves as chairman of the board and Russell as president.
Maxey produced
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, author, and former game show host. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom (American TV series), Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she play ...
's feature directorial debut ''As They Made Us'' which was written, directed and produced by Bialik. The film stars
Dianna Agron
Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. List of Dianna Agron performances, Her work spans screen and stage, and her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and nomination for a Brit Award. Agron bega ...
,
Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Support ...
,
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...
,
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable charac ...
, Julian Gant,
Charlie Weber and
Justin Chu Cary. The plot follows Abigail (Agron) and the last moments that she and her family spend with her dying father (Hoffman). It was released in theaters and on
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...
by
Quiver Distribution
Quiver Distribution is an American-Canadian film production and film distribution company founded in 2019 by Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. The company, sometimes referred to as an indie film company, is best known for releasing films '' The ...
on April 8, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics.
In 2022, Maxey produced the feature film ''Space Oddity'' directed by
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick ( ; born August 19, 1965) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the crime drama ''The Closer'' (2005–2012), for which she won a Golden ...
and written by Rebecca Banner. The film stars
Kyle Allen Kyle Allen may refer to:
* Kyle Allen (American football)
* Kyle Allen (actor), American actor and ballet dancer See also
* Allen (surname)
{{human name disambiguation ...
,
Alexandra Shipp
Alexandra Shipp (born July 16, 1991) is an American actress and singer who rose to prominence for portraying singer Aaliyah in the Lifetime television film '' Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B'' (2014) and Kimberly Woodruff in the film ''Straight Ou ...
,
Madeline Brewer,
Carrie Preston
Carrie Preston (born June 21, 1967) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles as Arlene Fowler in the HBO fantasy drama series '' True Blood'' (2008–2014) and as Elsbeth Tascioni in the CBS legal drama ...
,
Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Support ...
and
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Bacon made his featu ...
. The film had its premiere at the 2022
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
on June 12, 2022. It was released by
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Th ...
on March 31, 2023.
Maxey produced the 2025 film ''Words of War'' about the late Russian journalist
Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (; 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russians, Russian investigative journalist who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005).
It was her repor ...
. Directed by
James Strong, it stars
Maxine Peake
Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...
as Politkovskaya,
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of D.J. in ''Event Horizon'' (1997), Ronald Quincy in ''Armageddon'' (1998), Colonel William Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' ...
as her husband Sascha, and
Ciarán Hinds
Ciarán Hinds ( ; born 9 February 1953) is a British Northern Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Love ...
as her
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
-winning editor at the ''
Novaya Gazeta
''Novaya Gazeta'' (, ) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, the Chechen wars, corruption among the ruling elite, and increasing authoritarianism i ...
'',
Dmitry Muratov
Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov (; born 29 October 1961) is a Russian journalist, television presenter and the former editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper . He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Maria Ressa for "their efforts to ...
.
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...
is the executive producer of the film. Variety reported that ''Words of War'' will be released in U.S. theaters starting on May 2, 2025.
Personal
On September 6, 1998, Maxey married Rebecca Ewing. Together they have two sons and reside the Washington D.C. metro area.
External links
Official website of Mark Maxey*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxey, Mark
1969 births
Living people
American film producers
American documentary filmmakers
Film directors from Virginia
Screenwriters from Virginia
Writers from Lawrence, Kansas
People from Loudoun County, Virginia
Television producers from Virginia