Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein, an American former film producer, co-founded Miramax Films with his brother Bob after the two promoted rock concerts in Buffalo. Miramax started by distributing music concert films, including Paul McCartney's Rockshow. In the early 1980s, the brothers acquired two British benefit films and edited them into The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, which became the company's first hit in 1982. Wider attention came with Errol Morris's documentary The Thin Blue Line in 1988, and the 1989 release of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape made Miramax the most successful independent studio in America. Disney bought the company in 1993. Miramax released Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in 1994, and won its first Academy Award for Best Picture with The English Patient in 1997. Other critical successes included Good Will Hunting in 1997 and Shakespeare in Love in 1998. In 2005, Weinstein left to form The Weinstein Company. His honors include an Academy Award and eight Tony Awards.