Michael Doneger (born July 21, 1986) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Doneger is notable as screenwriter of ''Shelly'' starring

Awkwafina Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known professionally as Awkwafina (), is an American actress, comedian and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, ''Yellow Ra ...

and

Karen Gillan Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and filmmaker. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the scien ...

, lead actor in the 2015 film '' The Escort'', director of the film '' Brampton's Own'', which starred actors

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...

, Alex Russell and

Rose McIver Frances Rose McIver (born 10 October 1988) is a New Zealand actress. She portrays Samantha Arondekar in the CBS supernatural sitcom ''Ghosts'' (2021–present), Olivia "Liv" Moore in The CW supernatural comedy-drama series '' iZombie'' (2015–2 ...

, as well as director and producer of the documentary ''Fate of a Sport'' that was executive produced by

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

and acquired by

ESPN Films ESPN Films, formerly known as ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE), is an American production company which produces and distributes sports films and documentaries. It is owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which o ...

. Doneger also wrote, directed, and starred in his debut feature film ''This Thing with Sarah''. In addition, Doneger was a former

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

player on the

Johns Hopkins Blue Jays The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays are the 24 intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, Maryland. They compete in the NCAA Division III, except for their lacrosse and fencing teams, which compete in ...

and

San Jose Stealth The San Jose Stealth were a member of the National Lacrosse League, the professional box lacrosse league of North America from 2004 until 2009. They played at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, which is also the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks and th ...

lacrosse teams.

Early life and education

Doneger was born in

Hewlett, New York Hewlett is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,819 at the 2010 census. Hewlett is usually included as one of the Five Towns i ...

. Doneger attended

Lynbrook Senior High School Lynbrook Senior High School (commonly known as Lynbrook High School) is the four-year public high school located in the village of Lynbrook, New York in Nassau County on Long Island. The school district serves the Village of Lynbrook, as well a ...

Lynbrook, New York Lynbrook is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 20,438 at the time of the 2020 census. History The area currently known as Lynbrook has had o ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, where he played

at both schools. At

, he played for the Blue Jays lacrosse team while studying

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...

. Doneger then continued on to be a professional

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

player for the

during the 2009 season.

Career

After graduating from

, Doneger moved to

, California to pursue a career in the film industry. Doneger wrote, directed, and starred in ''This Thing with Sarah'' in 2013, co-starring

Wes Chatham Wes Chatham (born October 11, 1978) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''In the Valley of Elah'', '' W.'', ''The Help'', and '' The Philly Kid'', and played Castor in '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' and '' Part 2' ...

. ''This Thing with Sarah'' was funded from the finalist prize money that Doneger had earned for his commercial ''Elevator Girl'' at the 2011

Crash the Super Bowl The Crash the Super Bowl contest is an online commercial competition run by Frito-Lay. Consumers are invited to create their own Doritos ads and each year, at least one fan-made commercial is guaranteed to air during the Super Bowl. In later edit ...

competition. In 2015, Doneger wrote and starred in '' The Escort'' along with

Lyndsy Fonseca Lyndsy Marie Fonseca (born January 7, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career by appearing as Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', on which she starred between 2001 and 2005. Thereafter, she h ...

. According to Sheri Linden of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', Doneger and his co-star in The Escort "played with charm... and their mercenary alliance proceeds as a spirited, mostly convincing, exploration of life in the big city." In 2016,

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

also began to develop a

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

based on Doneger's 2015 film. In 2018, Doneger wrote and directed the film '' Brampton's Own''. The film's lead actors were Alex Russell and

, with

Scott Porter Matthew Scott Porter (born July 14, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Jason Street in the NBC television drama '' Friday Night Lights'', as George Tucker in The CW comedy-drama series '' Hart of Dixie'' and as Mayor ...

Spencer Grammer Spencer Karen Grammer (born October 9, 1983) is an American actress best known for her roles as the voice of Summer Smith in the Adult Swim animated science-fiction series ''Rick and Morty'' and as Casey Cartwright in the Freeform (TV channel), A ...

John Getz John William Getz (born October 15, 1946) is an American character actor. After starting his acting career on stage, he has appeared in numerous television series and films, most notably ''Blood Simple'', '' The Fly'', and ''The Social Network' ...

, and

playing supporting roles. The film was also featured at the

Nashville Film Festival The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...

. In 2020, Doneger conceived the story and co-wrote the screenplay for the film ''Shelly'' with Liz Storm. The film starring

and

was acquired by

Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

with

Jude Weng Jude Weng is a director of episodic TV and feature films. Her episode of '' Party Down'', "First Annual P12A Symposium", was selected as a Perfect Episode by '' Vanity Fair'', and ''Rolling Stone Magazine'' chose her episode of '' Lucky Hank'', " ...

as director. In 2022, Doneger directed and produced a

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

documentary featuring Lacrosse star,

Paul Rabil Paul Rabil (born December 14, 1985) is an American Business executive, sports executive and retired professional lacrosse player. He is currently the president of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), which he co-founded with his brother, league CEO ...

, in ''Fate of a Sport''. The film was executive produced by

and acquired by

before premiering at the

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 ...

. Additionally, Doneger is the founder of Cloverhill Pictures, a

-based film company.

Filmography

Filmography for Michael Doneger:

References

External links

Cloverhill Pictures official siteMichael Doneger
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Michael Doneger
on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doneger, Michael Living people 1986 births People from Hewlett, New York Film directors from New York (state) Film producers from New York (state) American male film actors Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse players San Jose Stealth players American lacrosse players Lacrosse players from New York (state)