Ivan Reitman

Ivan Reitman was a Canadian filmmaker who worked as a director and producer, known for comedy films. Born in Komárno, Czechoslovakia, he moved to Canada as a child and studied music at McMaster University, earning a Bachelor of Music in 1969. His first producing job was at Toronto's CITY-TV, and he produced the stage show Spellbound, which became the Broadway production The Magic Show and ran for four and a half years. He later earned Tony nominations for producing and directing Merlin. After producing Shivers and Rabid for David Cronenberg, he broke through by producing National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and directing Meatballs (1979). He went on to direct Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993), and Junior (1994). He also produced films such as Heavy Metal (1981), Space Jam (1996), Private Parts (1997), and the Academy Award-nominated Up in the Air (2009). He founded The Montecito Picture Company in 1998.