JAMES MANGOLD
Date of Birth: December 16, 1963
Hailing from the Big Apple, Mangold was the son of two celebrated painters.
With an early interest in film, he began making his own short live-action
and animated films as early as age 11. After high school, Mangold studied
acting and film at the California Institute of the Arts. During his time in
school, he managed to write and direct four short student films, including
the award-winning Barn, in 1985.
Just as he was packing his bags to go home to New York, he received three
phone calls from major studios requesting his employment. Mangold decided
to sign a one-year contract with Disney, and started working on the
screenplay for the animated feature, Oliver & Company (1988). When his
contract ended, Mangold drifted around Los Angeles doing odd jobs such as
writing for trailers and kids' television shows. Returning to his studies,
Mangold returned to New York to earn his Masters Degree from Columbia
University.
After completing a number of impressive shorts in school, he penned and
directed the feature Heavy (1996), a nearly wordless film about an
overweight chef at a rust belt tavern. It premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Direction as well as awards
at the Gijón International Film Festival.
Two years later Mangold released his second feature, Cop Land (1997), a police
drama inspired by the town in the Hudson Valley in which he grew up. The
independent low-budget film fared well with the critics and had a good run
at the box office. Next up was Girl, Interrupted (2000), a insider's look at a
women's insane asylum. Critics had a mixed reaction on this film, but the
greatest highlight was the performances by the starring cast: Winona Ryder,
Angelina Jolie and Brittany Murphy.
Mangold, who started the 21st century with the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (2001), has been married to long-time producer and partner, Cathy
Konrad. In 2006, he won an Amanda Award in Norway for Best Foreign Feature Film for the critically-acclaimed Walk the Line (2005), starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for her role as June Carter. Since then he directed Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in the western drama 3:10 to Yuma (2007) and Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise in the action comedy Knight and Day (2010). In 2008 he won a Distinguished Director/Producer Award from the Costume Designers Guild Awards.
Filmography (director):
Knight and Day (2010)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Walk the Line (2005)
Identity (2003)
Kate & Leopold (2001)
Girl, Interrupted (2000)
Cop Land (1997)
Heavy (1995)