For other uses, see Spike Jones (disambiguation). Spike Jonze , Jonze holding a producer credit for The 1 Second Film in October 2004 Born Adam Spiegel, (1969-10-22) October 22, 1969 (age 43), Rockville, Maryland, U.S. Occupation Director, producer, writer, actor Years active 1989-present Spouse(s) Sofia Coppola (1999-2003; divorced) Spike Jonze (/dʒoʊnz/; born Adam Spiegel; October 22, 1969) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich (which gave him a nomination for Academy Award for Best Director) and the 2002 film Adaptation, and as the co-writer/director of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He is well known also for his music video collaborations with Weezer, Beastie Boys, and Björk. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass. He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv. He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll. He also co-founded Directors Label, with filmmakers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry, and the Palm Pictures company. Early lifeedit: Spiegel was born in Rockville, Maryland, and raised in Bethesda, Maryland and in Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania. His father, Arthur H. Spiegel III, was a distant relation of the Spiegel catalog family and founded APM Management Consultants. His mother, Sandy Granzow, is a writer, communications consultant in developing countries, and artist. His brother Sam (aka Squeak E. Clean) is a producer and DJ. Jonze attended SFAI in San Francisco, California. When he was in junior high and high school, Spiegel hung out at Bethesda Community Store, where the former owner Mike Henderson gave him his nickname "Spike Jonze" in reference to Spike Jones. He fronted Club Homeboy, an international BMX club, with Mark "Lew" Lewman and Andy Jenkins, both co-editors of Freestylin' Magazine in the mid- to late 1980s, where Jonze worked as a photographer. The three also created the youth culture magazines Homeboy and Dirt (the latter of which was described as "Sassy Magazine for boys," being published by the same company and distributed in cellophane bags with the landmark magazine for young women). Careeredit: In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell. Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, most notably Blind's highly influential Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate. In the closing credits montage of Yeah Right!, Spike is shown doing a nollie heelflip in loafers. He is also co-owner of Girl Skateboards. Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" as it played on a boom box in a public area. Jonze showed the video to Slim, who loved it. Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You" outside a Westwood, California movie theater and taped the performance. The resulting clip was a huge success, and "Koufey" and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, which Jonze accepted, still in character. Jonze made a mockumentary about the experience called Torrance Rises. He also has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in the Beck song "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" from his 2006 album, The Information. He appears in the "Exoskeleton" part. Since 2007, he has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by Vice and funded by MTV. Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007. The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process. Most recently, Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are, which opened in the United States on October 16, 2009. It was arguably his most anticipated film to date, the product of an almost decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. The film received generally favorable reviews, and appeared on many critics' end-of-the-year top ten lists. In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, Light Boxes. However, Jonze, in an interview with Times Online, said that Ray Tintori was no longer a director for that project as expected. In an interview with Interview Magazine in June 2010, Jones said the film option had been dropped. In 2010, he made a 28 minute short titled Scenes from the Suburbs, inspired by the Arcade Fire album The Suburbs. Scenes from his short were used in the music video to the title song from the album, "The Suburbs". A dystopian vision of suburbia in the near-future, the short was co-written by Jonze, Win Butler and Will Butler. Expanding on the themes of nostalgia, alienation and childhood, the short premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and saw its online premiere at MUBI on June 27, 2011. Jonze is good friends with Björk and frequently works with her. He has directed three videos for her and she contributed the theme song for Jonze's Being John Malkovich film. Jonze is currently working on another project with the Beastie Boys for the release of their Santigold collaboration, "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win." In a similar fashion to Jonze's recent work with Arcade Fire, he has directed both "short and epic-length videos" to partner with the single. In 2011, Jonze directed the music video for "Otis" the second single from the album Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West. As of August 2012, Jonze's next project is Her, a science fiction romance film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Samantha Morton, Olivia Wilde, and Rooney Mara. The film, from a script penned by Jonze himself, follows a man (Phoenix) who falls in love with a computer's voice, much like the Siri feature on the iPhone. Personal lifeedit: On June 26, 1999, Jonze married director Sofia Coppola, whom he had first met in 1992. On December 5, 2003, the couple filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." The character of John, a career-driven photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) in Coppola's Lost In Translation (2003), was rumored to be based on Jonze, though Coppola has vehemently denied this. In 2008, Jonze dated Michelle Williams several months after the death of Heath Ledger, but around a year later they split. In 2011, it was reported that he was dating Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi. Filmographyedit: Directoredit: Feature filmsedit Year Film Budget US Gross Awards and nominations Ref. 1999 Being John Malkovich $13 million $22,863,596 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Artist (also for Three Kings), Chlotrudis Award for Best Director, Deauville Film Festival - Critics Award, Deauville Film Festival - Grand Special Prize, Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Newcomer of the Year, Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (shared with Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern, Steve Golin, Vincent Landay), Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Newcomer, London Critics Circle Film Award for Director of the Year, MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film, Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Debut, Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Director (2nd place), Venice Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize, Nominated - Academy Award for Best Director, Nominated - Bodil Award for Best American Film, Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, Nominated - César Award for Best Foreign Film, Nominated - Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Nominated - Empire Award for Best Debut, Nominated - Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (shared with Charlie Kaufman), Nominated - Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Award for Best Foreign Director, Nominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Director, Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director, Nominated - Robert Award for Best American Film 2002 Adaptation $19 million $22,498,520 Berlin International Film Festival - Jury Grand Prix, San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Director (2nd place), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, Nominated - Berlin International Film Festival - Golden Berlin Bear, Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Director, Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, (Wrote screenplay with David Eggers) $100 million $100,086,793 Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing 2013 Her Short filmsedit Year Film Role Awards and nominations Ref. 1997 How They Get There Writer, director 1998 Amarillo by Morning Director 1999 Torrance Rises Co-director, choreographer, actor 2009 We Were Once a Fairytale Writer, director 2010 I'm Here Nominated - Berlin International Film Festival - Golden Berlin Bear (Best Short Film) 2011 Scenes From the Suburbs Co-writer, director Mourir Auprès De Toi Co-writer, co-director Nominated - Warsaw International Film Festival - Short Grand Prix Prize (shared with Simon Cahn) Music videosedit Year Song Artist Notes 1992 "High in High School" Chainsaw Kittens "100%" Sonic Youth 1993 "Cannonball" The Breeders Co-directed by Kim Gordon, Produced by Steve Reiss "Country at War" X "Daughters of the Kaos" Luscious Jackson "Hang On" Teenage Fanclub "Time for Livin'" Beastie Boys 1994 "All About Eve" Marxman "Buddy Holly" Weezer "Ditch Digger" Rocket from the Crypt "Divine Hammer" The Breeders "Feel the Pain" Dinosaur Jr. "I Can't Stop Smiling" Velocity Girl "If I Only Had a Brain" MC 900 Ft. Jesus "Old Timer" that dog. "Ricky's Theme" Beastie Boys "Sabotage" Also writer "Sure Shot" "Undone - The Sweater Song" Weezer 1995 "California" Wax "Car Song" Elastica "Crush with Eyeliner" R.E.M. "Freedom of '76" Ween "It's Oh So Quiet" Björk "The Diamond Sea" Sonic Youth "Who Is Next?" Wax 1996 "Drop" The Pharcyde 1997 "Da Funk" Daft Punk "Electrolite" R.E.M. "Elektrobank" The Chemical Brothers "It's All About the Benjamins" (Rock Remix) Puff Daddy "Liberty Calls" Mike Watt "Shady Lane" Pavement "Sky's the Limit" The Notorious B.I.G. 1998 "Home" Sean Lennon "Praise You" Fatboy Slim A Torrance Public Film Production "Root Down" version 2 Beastie Boys 2000 "Weapon of Choice" Fatboy Slim "What's Up, Fatlip?" Fatlip "Wonderboy" Tenacious D As Marcus Von Bueler 2002 "Island in the Sun" (version 2) Weezer "Guess I'm Doing Fine" Beck "It's in Our Hands" Björk 2003 "Big Brat" Phantom Planet 2004 "Get Back" Ludacris "Y Control" Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2005 "Triumph of a Heart" Björk 2008 "Flashing Lights" Kanye West Co-directed with West 2009 "Heaven" UNKLE Co-directed with Ty Evans "25" AsDSSka Co-directed with Crysal Moselle 2010 "Drunk Girls" LCD Soundsystem Co-directed with James Murphy "The Suburbs" Arcade Fire 2011 "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" Beastie Boys "Otis" Jay-Z & Kanye West Videoedit Ciao L.A. (director) (1994), An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube (director) (1999), What's Up, Fatlip? (director) (2003), The Work of Director Spike Jonze (director) (2003), The Mystery of Dalarö (director) (2004), Corporate Ghost (actor, director) (2004), Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow (cinematographer) (2004), Skateboard videosedit Rubbish Heap for SMA World Industries (1989), Two World Industries Men for SMA World Industries (1989), Video Days for Blind (1991), Goldfish (1993), Mouse (1996), The Chocolate Tour (1999), Yeah Right! (2003), Hot Chocolate! (2004), The Krooked Chronicles (2006), Fully Flared for Lakai (2007), Final Flare for Mark (2008), Pretty Sweet for Girl (2012), Other filmographyedit: Year Film Role Awards and nominations Ref. 1993 Mi Vida Loca Actor 1996 Pig! 1997 The Game Free Tibet Cinematographer 1999 Three Kings Actor Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Artist (also for Being John Malkovich) 2001 Human Nature Producer Munich Film Festival High Hopes Award (shared with Anthony Bregman, Ted Hope, Charlie Kaufman) Keep Your Eyes Open Actor 2002 Jackass: The Movie Producer, actor 2006 Jackass: Number Two The Fall 2008 Synecdoche, New York Producer Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (shared with Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Sidney Kimmel), Nominated - Gotham Award for Best Film Heavy Metal in Baghdad 2009 The 1 Second Film Producer, actor 2010 Jackass 3D Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life 2011 Moneyball Actor Televisionedit: Year Film Position 2000 Jackass Creator, executive producer 2004 Sonic Youth Video Dose Actor 2010-2012 The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Actor - Doug Whitney

Source: Wikipedia

Text from this biography licensed under creative commons license