Gregg Champion

Gregg Champion
Born	(1956-11-20) November 20, 1956 Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Occupation	Film director

Gregg Champion (born November 20, 1956 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film director, known for his work on wide release and TV Hollywood movies.

Work in Film & Television

After attending the USC School of Cinema, Gregg Champion apprenticed with several directors including Blake Edwards, Nicholas Roeg, and John Badham, with whom he shared an eight-year association. Champion's feature producing credits include "Blue Thunder"(Columbia) "Short Circuit"(Tri-Star) and "Stakeout"(Touchstone). Champion also served as the Action-Director on those films as well as the Warner Bros. bicycle racing movie "American Flyers" starring Kevin Costner.

Champion's feature directing credits include the fish out of water action-comedy "The Cowboy Way" starring Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland (Universal), and the action-comedy "Short Time" starring Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr (Fox). Television Producing and Directing credits include the award-winning and Emmy-nominated "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn" starring Sidney Poitier, Dianne Wiest and Mary-Louise Parker as well as CBS Special Movie Presentations "Dodson's Journey" with Ellen Burstyn and Penelope Ann Miller and "The Last Brickmaker in America" again starring Sidney Poitier. Television Series include multiples of "The Magnificent Seven" for CBS/MGM and "Walker Texas Ranger" with Chuck Norris also for CBS. Other long-form movies Champion directed are the Emmy nominated drama "Miracle Run" starring Mary-Louise Parker, Aidan Quinn and Zac Efron, "Stealing Christmas" a romantic comedy starring Tony Danza, Lea Thompson, and Betty White for the USA Network, and the action-drama "14 Hours" for TNT for which Champion received the Christopher Award for best director. Champion received his second Christopher Award for directing "Amish Grace" starring Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Tammy Blanchard which became Lifetime Movie Network's highest rated original movie ever.

Most recently, Champion choreographed some bullet-ridden action sequences with Emile Hirsch in the A&E 4hr. mini-series "Bonnie & Clyde" in which he served as the 2nd Unit Director and was Director of the gymnastics bio-pic "The Gabby Douglas Story"...a 2hr. Special Event Movie for Sony and Lifetime that was nominated for 4 NAACP Awards including best director as well as winning the 2015 Christopher Award for best movie.

Life Coaching & Recovery Coaching Work

Gregg is a TEDx speaker who has been in recovery for over 20 years after personal issues with drugs and alcohol. He got clean and sober in his early 20's with the help of Father Bill Wilson of La Jolla, who was Gregg's "Eskimo" to the rooms of AA. Gregg brings unequivocal expertise, visibility, and acumen to recovery coaching. Policymakers, media personalities, and addiction experts recognize Gregg as a highly valued and trusted member of the recovery community. With the full support of the leadership of SOBA Recovery Center in Malibu, he developed a unique curriculum for the clinical groups he ran as a recovery coach. Over the past couple of years, he has taken on private clients in early sobriety as well as those with 10-plus years who feel "stuck in their lives" and in need of a breakthrough. Gregg continues to run high-end/high-energy groups, panels, and recovery retreats, most recently as a facilitator/recovery coach at Hotel California by the Sea recovery center in Newport Beach.

Gregg has helped, supported and coached over a 100 millennials to get their first job or internship in the "real world." Through his own vast experiences working with Fortune 500 brands, running his own companies, and fostering relationships with millennials at colleges and universities across the nation, he has developed a bullet proof playbook on how to land, keep, and thrive at your dream job. In June 2015, Gregg was named Mentor in Residence at USC's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship after serving as a co-teacher for a 400-level undergrad course on Venture Management within the Marshall School of Business.

Gregg founded START UP RECOVERY on the two things he knows best and loves most: startups and recovery. His daily mantra is "What can I do for you? I’m here to help." In the fall of 2017, START UP RECOVERY Transformational Living Center opened its doors with Gregg's vision of how to bring his unique Recovery Playbook to its residents on a daily basis - one day at a time.

Branding & Consulting

Gregg Champion is also a branding expert, having worked with top consumer brands, major television networks, and professional sports teams over the last 15 years. In the last few years, he has focused on selective start-up ventures as an investor, advisor, educator, and start-up coach.

Filmography

• Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981, producer)
• Blue Thunder (1983, producer)
• American Flyers (1985, producer)
• Short Circuit (1986, producer)
• Stakeout (1987, producer)
• Short Time (1990, director)
• The Cowboy Way (1994, director)
• "A Woman's Place" (Walker, Texas Ranger) (1997, director)
• The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999, producer and director)
• The Magnificent Seven (1999-2000, director, 5 episodes)
• Dodson's Journey (2001, producer and director)
• The Last Brickmaker in America (2001, producer and director)
• Stealing Christmas (2003, producer and director)
• Miracle Run (2004, director)
• 14 Hours (2005, director)
• Amish Grace (2010, director)
• Field of Vision (2011, director)
• The Gabby Douglas Story (2014, director)

External links

• Gregg Champion at IMDb