LEVY, Jefery 1958-

PERSONAL: Born May 21, 1958, in New York, NY; married Pamela Skaist.

ADDRESSES: Office—9031 Hollywood Hills Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90046-1416. Agent—United Talent Agency, 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2427.

CAREER: Director, producer, and screenwriter. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, professor of film. Director of films, including Drive, MEI, 1991; Inside Monkey Zetterland, IRS Media, 1992; S.F.W., Gramercy, 1994; Players, 1998; and Et tu Babe, 1998. Director of made-for-television movies, including Hollyweird, Fox, 1998; Iggy Vile, M.D., Music Television (MTV), 1999; Invincible, 2001; and Queens Supreme, 2003. Director of television pilot The Expendables, USA Network, 1999, and of numerous episodes of television series, including Profiler, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1996-2000; Sliders, Fox; Spy Game, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1997; Lawless, TV New Zealand; Roar, Fox, 1997; Get Real, Fox, 1999-2000; Harsh Realm, Fox, 1999-2000; FreakyLinks, Fox, 2000-01; Roswell, The WB, 1999-2002; Secret Agent Man, UPN, 2000; Dark Angel, Fox, 2000-02; Night Vision, Fox; C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 2000—; UC: Undercover, NBC, 2001-02; and The Dead Zone, USA Network, 2002—.

Producer of films, including Ghoulies, 1985; Rockula, Cannon Film Distributors, 1990; Drive, MEI, 1991; and Inside Monkey Zetterland, IRS Media, 1992. Producer of made-for-television movie Iggy Vile, M.D., MTV, 1999, and of television series Roar, Fox, 1997, and Secret Agent Man, UPN, 2000.

WRITINGS:

SCREENPLAYS

(With Luca Bercovici; and producer) Ghoulies, 1985.

(With Luca Bercovici and Christ Ver Wiel; and producer) Rockula, Cannon Film Distributors, 1990.

(And director and producer) Drive, MEI, 1991.

(With Danny Rubin; and director) S.F.W., based on a novel by Andrew Wellman, Gramercy, 1994.

(And director) Et tu Babe, 1998.

MADE-FOR-TELEVISION MOVIES

(With Dan Bell and Ted Raimi; and director and producer) Iggy Vile, M.D., Music Television, 1999.

(With Michael Brandt and Derek Haas; and director) Invincible, Turner Broadcasting System, 2001.

Also author of story for The Chain, Warnervision Entertainment, 1996.

SIDELIGHTS: Director, producer, and screenwriter Jefery Levy may be best known for the film S.F.W., "a satire of the celebrity-obsessed culture of the 1990s," as Karl Williams described it in an online review on MSN Entertainment. The film's protagonist, a directionless young man named Cliff Spab, becomes famous when he is taken hostage by terrorists who take over a convenience store. The terrorists videotape the situation inside the store, and these tapes, which are aired on televisions across the nation, turn Spab into a hero. When the siege is finally lifted, after a month, Spab finds himself an honored guest at rock concerts, and his girlfriend Wendy (played by Reese Witherspoon), another survivor of the siege, is invited to appear on the talk show circuit.

Levy's other films include Ghoulies, a low-budget horror film about a college student who accidentally summons his father's undead corpse and a flock of sharp-toothed, drooling ghoulies when he tries to draw on his father's former occult powers, and Drive, about two men who film their ramblings as they carpool to work together every day.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 37, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Christian Science Monitor, January 20, 1995, David Sterritt, review of S.F.W., p. 10.

Entertainment Weekly, June 3, 1994, "Generation Hex," p. 12; May 19, 1995, Glenn Kenny, review of S.F.W., pp. 68-70.

Hollywood Reporter, November 21, 2001, Zorianna Kit and Chris Gardner, "Fox 2000 Gives 'DJ' Pitch a Spin," p. 4.

New York Times, January 20, 1995, Janet Maslin, review of S.F.W., p. C8; January 21, 1995, Janet Maslin, review of S.F.W., p. 11.

Sight and Sound, March, 1995, Louise Gray, review of S.F.W., p. 52.

Variety, November 4, 1991, David Stratton, review of Drive, p. 63; July 27, 1992, Emanuel Levy, review of Inside Monkey Zetterland, p. 60; August 29, 1994, Steven Gaydos, review of S.F.W., p. 43; July 14, 1997, Ray Richmond, review of Roar, p. 34.

ONLINE

MSN Entertainment,http://entertainment.msn.com/ (April 18, 2003), Cavett Binion, review of Ghoulies; Paul Brenner, review of Inside Monkey Zetterland; Sandra Brennan, review of Drive; Karl Williams, review of S.F.W.

TV Tome,http://www.tvtome.com/ (April 19, 2003).*