Adam Shankman
Adam Shankman was born in Los Angeles, California, United States on November 27th, 1964 and is the Director. At the age of 59, Adam Shankman biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 59 years old, Adam Shankman has this physical status:
After graduating from Palisades, Shankman was a performing intern and junior company member of the prestigious Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. Having been accepted for both dancing and acting at Juilliard, he chose dance as his major without having any previous formal training. He dropped out of college to dance in musical theater and at nineteen he was cast in his first professional show, West Side Story, at the esteemed Michigan Opera Theater.
Shankman moved back to Los Angeles and started dancing in music videos. He was a dancer in Janet Jackson's "Alright" video, as well as in an MC Skat Kat video with Paula Abdul. Shankman broke into professional choreography in a 1989 music video for rapper MC Shan with director Julien Temple. When the hired choreographer fell through, Shankman lied and said that he had done choreography for Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul. He was hired on the spot without his story being verified. As a choreographer, he worked with acts including Tony! Toni! Toné!, The Time, Whitney Houston and Aaron Neville. In 1996 he won a Bob Fosse Award for Best Choreography in a Commercial. On television, he was a go-to choreographer on Friends and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He served as a choreographer and dance consultant on dozens of movies including Addams Family Values, Catch Me If You Can, George of the Jungle and Boogie Nights.
In 1998 Shankman wrote and directed Cosmo's Tale, a non-dialogue short film that appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. Following the short, his sister, Jennifer Gibgot, asked him to read a script that she had already set up with Fine Line Features, entitled The Wedding Planner. He liked the script and this led to a meeting with execs. He was hired for the job of director ten minutes into the meeting. The movie eventually went to Columbia Pictures and was a box office success.
Directing career
Following The Wedding Planner, Shankman went on to direct seven more studio films: A Walk to Remember, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier, the 2007 award-winning film Hairspray, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' Bedtime Stories, and the movie based on the musical of the same name, Rock of Ages. In 2019 he directed What Men Want, starring Taraji P. Henson for Paramount Pictures.
Shankman has been confirmed to helm Walt Disney Pictures' Disenchanted, the sequel to Enchanted, starring Amy Adams.
Shankman has directed commercial campaigns for Macy's, Marshalls and Schick, as well as primetime television pilots and shows, including Being Mary Jane, Glee, AJ and the Queen, Step Up: High Water and Modern Family. He has directed several shorts for Funny or Die, including "Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black and written by composer Marc Shaiman. According to Time magazine, "Prop 8 - The Musical" was Marc Shaiman's attempt to pick apart the anti-gay marriage lobby's logic. Lending support to the cause were actors Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Craig Robinson, Neil Patrick Harris and Allison Janney.
In 2012, Shankman directed a dual campaign to attract young voters for Rock the Vote and Funny or Die.
In June 2017, he directed the pilot for Step Up: High Water, a gritty teen drama series produced by Lionsgate Television and YouTube Red.
Producing career
In addition to directing, Shankman has produced various studio films with his sister Jennifer Gibgot, through their company Offspring Entertainment. These include Touchstone Pictures' Step Up, which helped launch the careers of Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan; Premonition, starring Sandra Bullock; Bedtime Stories for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; 17 Again, starring Zac Efron; The Last Song, starring Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth; and Going the Distance, starring Justin Long and Drew Barrymore. Shankman also served as producer of the Step Up franchise.
In 2009 Shankman produced Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special, with Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe.
With Bill Mechanic, Shankman was one of the two producers of the 82nd Academy Awards, which took place on March 7, 2010. The telecast earned a record 12 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including two for Shankman, for Best Choreography and Co-Producing.
Offspring Entertainment, in addition to having several feature films on the development slate, has a deal with Warner Bros. Television and Warner Horizon, and is currently developing television series and events for both network and cable.
Adam Shankman serves as an executive producer on YouTube Premium and Lionsgate Television series Step Up: High Water. He also directed the pilot episode. The third season of the series will air on Starz Encore in 2020. In May 2021, Shankman announced that he would serve as an executive producer for Hocus Pocus 2.