Jake Kasdan

Jake Kasdan
File:Jake Kasdan.jpg Kasdan in 2012
Born	Jacob Kasdan (1974-10-28) October 28, 1974 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Director producer screenwriter actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Inara George
Children	3
Parent(s)	Lawrence Kasdan (father)
Relatives	Jonathan Kasdan (brother) Mark Kasdan (uncle)

Jacob Kasdan (born October 28, 1974) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing Walk Hard (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), Sex Tape (2014), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

Early life

Kasdan was born and raised in a Jewish family, with little religious education in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Meg (née Goldman), a writer, and writer-director Lawrence Kasdan. His younger brother, Jon Kasdan, also works in the film and television industry as an actor and writer.

Career

Kasdan has directed seven theatrical films: Zero Effect (1998), Orange County (2002), The TV Set (2006), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), Sex Tape (2014), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). He has also worked in television, most notably with Judd Apatow, as a consulting producer and director on Freaks and Geeks and as a director on Undeclared. He has also directed numerous stage productions. He is attached to direct John Grisham novel Calico Joe to a family film adaptation.

In 2008, Kasdan received his first Golden Globe nomination for Walk Hard in the Best Original Song category (shared with John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow, and Marshall Crenshaw), but lost to "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild (written by Eddie Vedder).

As a child, he made several appearances in his father's movies such as The Big Chill and Silverado (in the former he is an autograph seeker at a funeral and in the latter a stable boy).

After the success of New Girl, Kasdan announced that on July 11, 2012, that he had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television, through The Detective Agency, to pursue own projects.

In February 2015, Fox announced it had greenlit a pilot for the comedy The Grinder to be directed by Kasdan and starring Rob Lowe.

On March 26, 2019, The Detective Agency's producing partners Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar reupped, and signed a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox Television.

In October 2021, it was announced that Disney+ had given a series order to a television adaptation of graphic novel, American Born Chinese. It will be produced by 20th Television with Kelvin Yu and Charles Yu as writers and executive producers, Marvin Mar and Kasdan as executive producers, and Destin Daniel Cretton as director and executive producer. Most recently, he served as executive producer of the workplace comedy pilot XYZ at ABC.

Personal life

Kasdan is married to singer-songwriter Inara George of The Bird and the Bee. They have three children, including twins.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1998	Zero Effect	Yes	Yes	Yes
2002	Orange County	Yes	No	No
2006	The TV Set	Yes	Yes	Yes
2007	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Yes	Yes	Yes
2011	Bad Teacher	Yes	Executive	No
2014	Sex Tape	Yes	Executive	No
2017	Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle	Yes	Executive	No
2019	Jumanji: The Next Level	Yes	Yes	Yes
2023	Red One	Yes	Yes	No

Producer

Year	Title	Producer
2008	Shades of Ray	Executive
2011	Friends with Kids	Yes

Acting credits

Year	Title	Role
1983	The Big Chill	Autograph Seeker
1985	Silverado	Stable Boy
1988	The Accidental Tourist	Scott Canfield
1998	Zero Effect	Bank Teller (voice)
2008	Shades of Ray	Director # 3

Soundtrack credits

Year	Title	Song
1998	Zero Effect	Let's Run Off and Get Married
		Cold and Dark in My Heart
2007	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Walk Hard
		Take My Hand
		(Mama) You Got To Love Your Negro Man
		Cut My Brother in Half Blues
		There's a Change a'Happening (I Can Feel It)
		(You Make Me So) Hard

Other credits

Year	Title	Role
1991	Grand Canyon	Production assistant
1994	Wyatt Earp	Archivist

Television and web

Year(s)	Title	Director	Executive Producer	Writer	Notes
1999–00	Freaks and Geeks	Yes	No	No	Director (5 episodes) / Also consulting producer (15 episodes)
2000	Grosse Pointe	Yes	No	No	2 episodes
2001	Undeclared	Yes	No	No	Episode: "Prototype"
2002	Zero Effect	Yes	Co-Executive	Yes	Unsold television pilot
2006	Cracking Up	Yes	No	No	Episode: "The Fixer"
2008	Californication	Yes	No	No	Episode: "In a Lonely Place"
2011	Spring/Fall	Yes	No	No	Television film
2011–18	New Girl	Yes	Yes	No	Director (7 episodes) / Executive producer (146 episodes)
2012–13	Ben and Kate	Yes	Yes	No	Director (2 episodes) / Executive producer (16 episodes)
2015	Weird Loners	Yes	Yes	No	Director (2 episodes) / Executive producer (6 episodes)
2015–16	The Grinder	Yes	Yes	No	Director (2 episodes) / Executive producer (22 episodes)
2015–20	Fresh off the Boat	Yes	Yes	No	Director (Episode: "The Shunning") / Executive producer (116 episodes)
2016–19	Speechless	No	Yes	No	63 episodes
2017	Jalen Vs. Everybody	No	Yes	No	Television film
2019	Heart of Life	No	Yes	No	Television film
2019–20	Bless This Mess	No	Yes	No	26 episodes
2021–present	Doogie Kamealoha, M.D	Yes	Yes	No	Director (Episode: "Aloha – The Hello One") / Executive producer (10 episodes)
2023	Prom Pact	No	Yes	No	Television film
2023	American Born Chinese	No	Yes	No

Acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Young Rock	Tyler the Director	Episode: "A Christmas Peril"

Music video

• Believe by Shawn Mendes (2015)

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result	Notes
2007	Sierra Award	Best Song	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Won	Shared with Judd Apatow, Marshall Crenshaw and John C. Reilly
2008	Golden Globe	Best Original Song		Nominated
2009	Grammy	Best Song Written for Motion Picture Television or Other Visual Media		Nominated
2012	Emmy Award	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series	New Girl	Nominated	Pilot

External links

• Jake Kasdan at the Internet Movie Database
• The Director Interviews: Jake Kasdan, The TV Set Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine at Filmmaker Magazine
• The Director Interviews: Jake Kasdan, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story at Filmmaker Magazine