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Michael Mann

Michael Mann has earned numerous honors for his work as a director, writer and producer, including four Academy Award nominations for The Insider and for producing The Aviator. A Chicago native, Mann is recognized for his ground- breaking and cinematically captivating dramas, including Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral and Miami Vice.

In the mid-1970s, Mann began a career as a television writer, and worked on Police Story, the first episodes of Starsky and Hutch and the series Vega$, which he created. In 1979, he directed and co-wrote his first dramatic movie-of-the-week, The Jericho Mile, which starred Peter Strauss. It garnered four Emmy Awards and a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television.

In 1981, Mann made his theatrical film debut with Thief, a crime story that starred James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson and James Belushi, and was nominated for the Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1983, he followed that film with The Keep, which starred Gabriel Byrne, Scott Glenn and Ian McKellen. In 1986, he directed Manhunter, based on the first of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter books, Red Dragon, and featuring William Petersen, Joan Allen and Brian Cox as Lecter.

Throughout the 1980s, Mann continued to work in television with the revolutionary series Miami Vice and the acclaimed Chicago and Las Vegas drama Crime Story, which starred Dennis Farina. In addition, he produced the 1990 Emmy Award-winning miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story and the 1992 Emmy Award-nominated sequel Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel.

In 1992, Mann directed, co-wrote and produced The Last of the Mohicans, which starred Daniel Day- Lewis and Madeleine Stowe. He next directed the 1995 film Heat from his original screenplay. The film depicted the taut relationship between an obsessive detective (Al Pacino) and a professional thief (Robert DeNiro) and also starred Jon Voight, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Amy Brenneman, the latter two having their first major roles in the film.

In 1999, Mann earned Oscar nominations for co-writing, directing and producing The Insider, which starred Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. Based on Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article, the film tells the true story of Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco-industry executive who blew the whistle on the tobacco industry, and 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman's conflict with CBS.

In 2001, Mann took audiences into the heart and struggles of Muhammad Ali in Ali, which starred Will Smith and Jon Voight, both of whom received Oscar nominations for their performances. In 2002, Mann produced Robbery Homicide Division for CBS, which starred Tom Sizemore.

In 2004, Mann directed Collateral, which starred Tom Cruise and Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx. Mann earned numerous awards and nominations for this film, including the David Lean Award for Best Achievement in Direction at the 2004 BAFTAs.

Also in 2004, Mann produced the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett. This film led the 2005 Academy Awards contenders with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Blanchett won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn.

More recently, Mann wrote, produced and directed the big-screen version of Miami Vice, which starred Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Chinese actress Gong Li and Naomie Harris. He also produced The Kingdom, directed by Peter Berg and starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. In 2008, Mann was a producer on Hancock, also directed by Berg, starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2009.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Michael Mann Facts

Birth Name Michael Thomas Mann
OccupationDirector, Producer
BirthdayFebruary 5, 1943 (81)
SignAquarius
BirthplaceChicago, Illinois, USA
Height5' 8" (1m73)  How tall is Michael Mann compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Miami Vice
Pilot
The Last of the Mohicans Director's Definitive Cut
Heat
Collateral
Public Enemies
The Last of the Mohicans
Blackhat
The Last of the Mohicans: Director?s Definitive Cut
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