Theodore Melfi

Writer, producer and filmmaker Ted Melfi began his career helming over 100 commercials before branching out into short films and full-length features, eventually making his mark in Hollywood as the director of the Bill Murray-starring comedy "St. Vincent" (2014). Born in Brooklyn, NY, Melfi's early career was dominated by commercial work for the likes of FedEx, McDonalds and Slim Fast. But having directed his wife Kimberly Quinn in "Winding Roads" (1999), a low-budget indie drama released through his own production company, Goldenlight, Melfi's focus began to shift towards the film industry. After serving as producer on "Ronnie" (2002), a psychological thriller about a troubled young man who strikes up a relationship with a patient at a mental institution, "Joe Killionaire" (2004), a tongue-in-cheek satire of reality TV, and "Getno" (2005), a drama about a Hungarian family's attempt to achieve the American Dream, Melfi wrote, produced and directed his first short, "The Story of Bob" (2005), a spoof documentary about a man's obsession with IKEA. Following production work on trashy mutant TV movie "MorphMan" (Syfy, 2007) and children's soccer drama "Game of Life" (2007), Melfi helmed a string of further shorts including mistaken identity tale "The Beneficiary" (2008), a mockumentary about a rock/paper/scissors tournament, "Roshambo" (2010) and the story of a search for the perfect nanny, "I Want Candy" (2010). After taking on a producer's role on romantic comedy of errors "Bed & Breakfast: Love Is A Happy Accident" (2010), Melfi added screenwriter to his list of talents when he was hired to pen a remake of the crime comedy "Going In Style" (1979) and the New York Times best-selling memoir, The Tender Bar, and also set up his own content production company, Brother, with Rich Carter. Having impressively managed to acquire the talents of Bill Murray, as well as Naomi Watts and Melissa McCarthy, for his first major full-length feature, Melfi made Hollywood sit up and take notice with "St. Vincent" (2014), the heart-warming story of a grouchy war veteran who forms an unlikely bond with his 12-year-old next-door neighbor. Melfi followed up the indie duccess with a commercial breakthrough, "Hidden Figures" (2016). Starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe as mathematicians employed by NASA in the early 1960s, the fact-based drama was a box office hit that was nominated for Best Picture; Melfi and co-writer Allison Schroeder also scored a Best Adapted Screenplay nod.