Jeffrey Katzenberg

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Jeffrey Katzenberg at the 2006 Annie Awards ceremony

Jeffrey Katzenberg (born December 21, 1950 in New York City ) is an American film producer and co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks SKG .

Live and act

Katzenberg grew up in New York in the Manhattan borough. His father was a stockbroker and his mother was a craftswoman.

He attended Fieldston School in Riverdale, then New York University . In the second year of his studies he dropped out.

In 1975 he became assistant to Barry Diller , chairman of Paramount Pictures . Diller put him first in the marketing department, then later in the television department. There Katzenberg was commissioned to revive the series Raumschiff Enterprise . He was successful with Star Trek: The Film (1979), made a career and became "President of Production" under COO Michael Eisner .

In 1984 Eisner became Chairman of the Board of The Walt Disney Company . He took Katzenberg with him and made him responsible for the film division and the ailing animation department. As head of the studio, he managed the renovation and was responsible for some of Disney's most successful films: Wrong Game with Roger Rabbit (1988), Ariel, the Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991; the first animated film made for one Oscar was nominated for Best Picture ), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994, until 2003 the most financially successful animated film). He also arranged the partnership between Disney and Pixar Animation Studios .

After Disney's "number 2", Frank Wells , was killed in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner avoided offering Katzenberg his post. Then the two broke up and Katzenberg left Disney. About five years later, Katzenberg sued Disney and received a settlement of $ 285 million after an out-of-court settlement.

In 1994 Katzenberg co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and became chairman of DreamWorks Animation, Inc., the animation division of DreamWorks SKG. Under his direction, Shrek - The daring hero (2001) (the first film to win an Oscar for best animated film ), Shrek 2 - The daring hero returns (2004), Big Sharks - Little Fish (2004), Madagascar (2005) and Ab durch die Hecke (2006).

Awards (selection)

Web links

Commons : Jeffrey Katzenberg  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg: Jeffrey Katzenberg - Munzinger biography. In: www.munzinger.de. Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Katzenberg, Jeffrey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film producer
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City