Jack Bender


Jack Bender is an American television and film director, television producer and actor best known for his work as a director on Lost, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, and From.

Biography

Bender grew up in a secular Jewish family in Los Angeles. His father was a furrier to the Hollywood community. He studied art with Los Angeles artist Martin Lubner and then went into acting "because it seemed like what I could do and make a living." As an actor, Bender guest-starred on All in the Family, The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He co-starred in The Million Dollar Duck, Savage and McNaughton's Daughter. He then went into directing, working on a number of television series.
He directed the popular slasher film Child's Play 3 before becoming an executive producer and lead director on the ABC TV series Lost, directing 38 episodes of the show, including the series finale. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The Sopranos, Carnivàle, Alias and Boston Public. In recent years he was an executive producer and lead director on the TV series Under the Dome and The Last Ship. In 2016, Bender directed the fifth and sixth episodes of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, followed by episodes of Mr. Mercedes, a limited TV series adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name.
Bender received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his direction of the Lost episodes "Live Together, Die Alone", "Through the Looking Glass" and the series finale "The End". He was also nominated for the Game of Thrones episode "The Door".

Family and personal life

Bender is married to Rabbi Laura Owens of B’nai Horin of Los Angeles. They have two daughters, Hannah and Sophie Owens-Bender.

Director

  • Eight Is Enough TV series
  • The Paper Chase TV series
  • A Real Naked Lady
  • Falcon Crest TV series
  • Fame TV series
  • King's Crossing TV series
  • In Love with an Older Woman
  • Two Kinds of Love
  • High School U.S.A.
  • Shattered Vows
  • Deadly Messages
  • Letting Go
  • The Midnight Hour
  • Side by Side
  • Tricks of the Trade
  • Charlie
  • My Brother's Wife
  • Northern Exposure TV series
  • Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series
  • *Episode "The Game Is Chicken"
  • *Episode "Home and Away"
  • *Episode "Sentenced to Life"
  • The Dreamer of Oz
  • The Perfect Tribute
  • Child's Play 3
  • Love Can Be Murder
  • Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times TV series
  • Armed and Innocent
  • Gambler V: Playing for Keeps
  • Family Album
  • Lone Justice 2
  • New York News TV Series
  • Nothing Lasts Forever
  • A Face to Die For
  • Sweet Dreams
  • Profiler TV series
  • *Episode "Cycle Of Violence"
  • *Episode "It Cuts Both Ways"
  • *Episode "Modus Operandi"
  • *Episode "Old Acquaintance"
  • Friends 'Til the End
  • Killing Mr. Griffin
  • A Call to Remember
  • Felicity TV series
  • *Episode 2.21 "The Aretha Theory"
  • *Episode 2.23 "The Biggest Deal There Is"
  • *Episode 3.02 "The Anti-Natalie Intervention"
  • The Tempest
  • The Sopranos TV series
  • *Episode 3.05 "Another Toothpick"
  • *Episode 3.10 "...To Save Us All from Satan's Power"
  • *Episode 4.04 "The Weight"
  • *Episode 6.03 "Mayham"
  • It Came from the Sky
  • Judging Amy TV series
  • *Episode 1.02 "Short Calendar"
  • *Episode 1.15 "Culture Clash"
  • *Episode 1.17 "Drawing the Line"
  • *Episode 2.09 "The Undertow"
  • *Episode 2.16 "Everybody Falls Down"
  • *Episode 3.02 "Off the Grid"
  • My Little Assassin
  • The David Cassidy Story
  • That's Life TV series
  • Boston Public TV series
  • Alias TV series
  • *Episode 1.07 "Color-Blind"
  • *Episode 1.10 "Spirit"
  • *Episode 1.12 "The Box, Part 1"
  • *Episode 1.13 "The Box, Part 2"
  • *Episode 2.13 "Phase One"
  • *Episode 3.03 "Reunion"
  • *Episode 3.07 "Prelude"
  • *Episode 3.10 "Remnants"
  • *Episode 3.15 "Façade"
  • *Episode 3.18 "Unveiled"
  • *Episode 3.20 "Blood Ties"
  • Presidio Med TV series
  • *Episode "Breathless"
  • Boomtown TV Series
  • The Lone Ranger
  • Carnivàle TV series
  • *Episode 1.09 "Insomnia"
  • *Episode 2.02 "Alamogordo, NM"
  • Joan of Arcadia TV series
  • The Lyon's Den TV series
  • Lost TV series
  • *Episode 1.03 "Tabula Rasa"
  • *Episode 1.04 "Walkabout"
  • *Episode 1.07 "The Moth"
  • *Episode 1.12 "Whatever the Case May Be"
  • *Episode 1.16 "Outlaws"
  • *Episode 1.23 "Exodus: Part 1"
  • *Episode 1.24/1.25 "Exodus: Part 2"
  • *Episode 2.01 "Man of Science, Man of Faith"
  • *Episode 2.03 "Orientation"
  • *Episode 2.12 "Fire and Water"
  • *Episode 2.15 "Maternity Leave"
  • *Episode 2.18 "Dave"
  • *Episode 2.23/2.24 "Live Together, Die Alone"
  • *Episode 3.01 "A Tale of Two Cities"
  • *Episode 3.05 "The Cost of Living"
  • *Episode 3.08 "Flashes Before Your Eyes"
  • *Episode 3.13 "The Man from Tallahassee"
  • *Episode 3.16 "One of Us"
  • *Episode 3.22/3.23 "Through the Looking Glass"
  • *Episode 4.01 "The Beginning of the End"
  • *Episode 4.03 "The Economist"
  • *Episode 4.05 "The Constant"
  • *Episode 4.09 "The Shape of Things to Come"
  • *Episode 4.13/4.14 "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2"
  • *Episode 5.02 "The Lie"
  • *Episode 5.07 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
  • *Episode 5.09 "Namaste"
  • *Episode 5.13 "Some Like It Hoth"
  • *Episode 5.16/5.17 "The Incident"
  • *Episode 6.01/6.02 "LA X"
  • *Episode 6.05 "Lighthouse"
  • *Episode 6.08 "Recon"
  • *Episode 6.11 "Happily Ever After"
  • *Episode 6.14 "The Candidate"
  • *Episode 6.17/6.18 "The End"
  • Alcatraz TV series
  • *Episode 1.02 "Ernest Cobb"
  • *Episode 1.03 "Kit Nelson"
  • *Episode 1.10 "Clarence Montgomery"
  • *Episode 1.11 "Webb Porter"
  • Rewind
  • Under the Dome TV series
  • *Episode 1.02 "The Fire"
  • *Episode 1.05 "Blue on Blue"
  • *Episode 1.08 "Thicker Than Water"
  • *Episode 1.13 "Curtains"
  • *Episode 2.01 "Heads Will Roll"
  • *Episode 2.06 "In the Dark"
  • *Episode 2.08 "Awakening"
  • *Episode 2.11 "Black Ice"
  • *Episode 2.13 "Go Now"
  • The Last Ship TV series
  • *Episode 1.02 "Welcome to Gitmo"
  • *Episode 1.03 "Dead Reckoning"
  • *Episode 1.04 "We'll Get There"
  • *Episode 1.09 "Trials"
  • *Episode 2.01 "Unreal City"
  • *Episode 2.02 "Fight the Ship"
  • *Episode 2.05 "Achilles"
  • *Episode 2.13 "A More Perfect Union"
  • Game of Thrones TV series
  • *Episode 6.5 "The Door"
  • *Episode 6.6 "Blood of My Blood"
  • From TV series
  • *Episode 1.01 "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
  • *Episode 1.02 "The Way Things Are Now"
  • *Episode 1.03 "Choosing Day"
  • *Episode 1.04 "A Rock and a Farway"
  • *Episode 2.01 "Strangers in a Strange Land"
  • *Episode 2.02 "The Kindness of Strangers"
  • *Episode 2.05 "Lullaby"
  • *Episode 2.06 "Pas de Deux"
  • *Episode 2.09 "Ball of Magic Fire"
  • *Episode 2.10 "Once Upon a Time?"
  • *Episode 3.01 "Shatter"
  • *Episode 3.02 "When We Go"
  • *Episode 3.03 "Mouse Trap"
  • *Episode 3.04 "There and Back Again"
  • Mr. Mercedes
  • Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen
  • The Institute TV series
  • *Episode 1.01 "The Boy"
  • *Episode 1.02 "Shots for Dots"
  • *Episode 1.07 "Hide"
  • *Episode 1.08 "Fight"