Jake Kasdan

Jacob Kasdan is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing the films Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher, Sex Tape, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Red One.

Early life

Jacob Kasdan was born to Meg, a writer, and Lawrence Kasdan, a writer and director, in Detroit. Jacob grew up in a Jewish family with little religious education. His younger brother, Jonathan Kasdan, also works in the film and television industry as an actor and writer.

Career

Jake Kasdan has directed nine films. 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 directed numerous stage productions.
In 2008, Kasdan received his first Golden Globe nomination for Walk Hard in the Best Original Song category, but lost to "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild. As a child, Kasdan made appearances in his father's movies such as The Big Chill and Silverado.
After the success of New Girl, Kasdan announced that on July 11, 2012, he had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television, through The Detective Agency to pursue his own projects. In February 2015, Fox announced that 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 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 the graphic novel American Born Chinese. It will be produced by 20th Century Fox 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.
In late 2024, it was announced that Jake Kasdan, Patty Jenkins and Joe Cornish would each direct a live-action film for the Lego Group and Universal Pictures. The script for Kasdan's film script was written by Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul, based on a story and previous draft by Matt Mider and Kevin Burrows, and Kasdan will also produce the film through Detective Agency.

Personal life

Kasdan is married to singer-songwriter Inara George of the duo The Bird and the Bee. They have three children including twins Beau and Lorelei Kasdan and older son Otis Kasdan.

Filmography

Film

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
2008	Shades of Ray	Director # 3

Soundtrack credits

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

Music video

Believe by Shawn Mendes

Other credits

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

Television

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Executive Producer
2011	Spring/Fall
2017	Jalen Vs. Everybody
2019	Heart of Life
2023	Prom Pact