Joe Roth

Born: 13th June 1948
Where: New York

Joe studied communications at Boston University before settling in San Francisco where he first found employment as a production assistant on adverts and feature films and later as a booker for United Artists.

At the same time, he began an association with improvisational comedy group Pitchel Players, that led to his eventually producing the troupe's shows.

In 1974, the Players relocated to L.A. and Joe, utilizing then-unknown comic actors like Chevy Chase, produced his first film, Tunnelvision.

He made his directorial debut with the boxing melodrama, Streets of Gold and went on to helm Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise and Coupe de Ville.

In 1987, he and James G. Robinson co-founded the Morgan Creek independent production company, responsible for such films as Young Guns, Dead Ringers, and Pacific Heights.

Two years later Joe was named chairman of the Fox Film Corporation. He was the first director since 1935 (when Ernst Lubitsch briefly took over the reins of Paramount) to become the head of production for a major studio.

In 1992 Joe announced his resignation from Fox and went on to form Caravan Pictures, an independent production company.

After several successful years with Caravan, Joe was named chairman of Walt Disney Motion Pictures where he stayed until 2000, after which he formed Revolution Pictures and wasted no time in lining up talent to join him (Julia Roberts signed a multi-year, non-exclusive three-picture deal agreement).

The following year, he directed the comedy America's Sweethearts from a script by Billy Crystal, starring Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones.