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Lauren Shuler Donner

Lauren Shuler Donner

Lauren Shuler Donner is one of the most successful and prolific producers in Hollywood. To date, her films have grossed approximately $2 billion worldwide and counting.

Shuler Donner produced X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Romijn and Patrick Stewart, which was released in summer 2000 and emerged as one of the year's biggest hits. Three years later, the blockbuster sequel, X2: X-Men United broke new ground, opening with the biggest day-and-date international release ever and earning more than $200 million worldwide in its first week in release.

Shuler Donner has enjoyed success as a producer beginning with her first film, the smash hit comedy Mr. Mom, starring Michael Keaton, which was one of the top 10 films of 1983. She then produced the romantic fantasy Ladyhawke, starring Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer, followed by two of the most popular brat pack movies of the 1980s: Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire and Howard Deutch's Pretty In Pink.

In 1993, Shuler Donner produced two of the year's biggest hits: Ivan Reitman's acclaimed comedy Dave, starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver; and the widely praised family film Free Willy. Dave went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture -- Comedy, while the response to Free Willy resulted in its star, Keiko the whale, being ultimately freed from captivity in real life.

Shuler Donner's more recent producing credits include the sequel Free Willy 2; Nora Ephron's romantic comedy hit You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; Oliver Stone's football drama Any Given Sunday, starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid and Jamie Foxx; Richard Donner's Timeline; and Constantine, starring Keanu Reeves. She also executive produced Mick Jackson's Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones; Warren Beatty's political comedy Bulworth; and the romantic comedy Just Married.

Her upcoming film projects include Unaccompanied Minors, which began filming in March under the direction of Paul Feig; The Secret Life of Bees, based on the best-selling novel; Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman; and Cirque du Freak, written by Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland.

In addition to her work as a producer, Shuler Donner is actively involved in a number of philanthropic and environmental organizations. She and her husband, director Richard Donner, were honored by Mikhail Gorbachev's environmental organization, Global Green USA, with its 2000 Green Cross Millennium Award for Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership.

Shuler Donner received Premiere Magazine's Producer Icon Award and the Vision Award from Retinitis Pigmentosa, and has been honored by Girls, Inc. and the Doctors Without Borders international medical organization. Shuler Donner has also been honored by and served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based environmental organization TreePeople. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Hollygrove Children's Home, the Producers Guild of America and Planned Parenthood. She is also on the Advisory Boards of the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and is an executive committee member of the producer's branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2006.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Lauren Shuler Donner Facts

OccupationProducer
BirthdayJune 23, 1949 (74)
SignCancer
BirthplaceCleveland, Ohio, USA

Selected Filmography

Not available.