Tod Culpan "Kip" Williams (born September 27, 1968) is an American director,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He is best known for directing the 2010 horror film '' Paranormal Activity 2''.

Life and career

Williams, born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

in 1968, is the son of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Tod Williams and dancer Patricia Agnes Jones. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and he and his older sister, model

Rachel Williams Rachel Williams (born April 29, 1967) is an American model, TV presenter, and landscape designer. Early life Williams is the daughter of architect Tod Williams and Patricia Agnes Jones, a dancer. Her parents divorced when she was five ye ...

, lived with their mother in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, West 14th Street to t ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. After his mother's remarriage in the late 1970s, they moved to

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 200 ...

. Williams studied painting and literature at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 18 ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

before finding work as a stringer for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

bureau. Next, he attended the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

. On March 27, 2010, he was named as the director of '' Paranormal Activity 2''; he replaced Kevin Greutert, who was originally set to direct. Williams was married to actress

Famke Janssen Famke Beumer Janssen (; born ) is a Dutch actress. She played Xenia Onatopp in '' GoldenEye'' (1995), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2014), and Lenore Mills in the ''Taken'' film trilogy (2008–2014). In 2008, she ...

from 1995 to 2000. He has been married to actress Gretchen Mol since June 1, 2004. Their first child, a son, was born in September 2007. Their second child, a daughter, was born in February 2011.

Filmography

*''

The Adventures of Sebastian Cole ''The Adventures of Sebastian Cole'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tod Williams and starring Adrian Grenier as the title character. Plot In June 1983 in Dutchess County, New York, Sebastian Cole's stepmother, who ...

'' (1998) *'' The Door in the Floor'' (2004) *''Wings Over the Rockies'' (2009) *'' Paranormal Activity 2'' (2010) *'' Cell'' (2016)

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people American male screenwriters Bard College alumni Columbia University alumni Film directors from New York City Horror film directors Screenwriters from New York (state) People from Greenwich Village {{US-film-director-1960s-stub