Leslie Urdang
Encyclopedia
Personal life
Born 1956, Urdang danced professionally as a child in George BalanchineGeorge Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
's staging of The Nutcracker, a chapter of her life documented in the 2006 film The Nutcracker Family: Behind the Magic. She graduated in 1972 from Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School , dedicated in 1937, is a public secondary school in Queens, New York City. It educates students in grades 9–12 and is operated by the New York City Department of Education.- Location :...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she was Chairman of Senior SING!
SING!
SING! is an annual student-run musical production put on by some high schools in the Greater New York City area. It is a theater competition between the various grades, with the setup between grades differing from school to school SING! is an annual student-run musical production put on by some...
1972 during her senior year. Urdang originally aspired to become a US senator, earning an Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
undergraduate degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. In 1977, she interned for U.S. Senator John A. Durkin
John A. Durkin
John Anthony Durkin was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1975 until 1980.Durkin graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1959 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1965...
(D-N.H.), assisting with constituent communications and issue research. But in 1978 Urdang tore up her application to the John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
and instead sought and won entry to the Yale School of Drama. Her thesis there explored integrating the development of plays and films, which inspired her professional work.
Urdang shared a New York City brownstone with then-boyfriend actor Rob Morrow
Rob Morrow
Robert Alan "Rob" Morrow is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Don Eppes on Numb3rs and as Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure, a role which garnered him three Golden Globes and two Emmy Award nominations for "Best Actor in a Dramatic Series."-Personal life:Morrow was born in...
, during the years in which he was very visible as the protagonist of the quirky award-winning TV serial Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
. Urdang currently lives with boyfriend actor Jon Tenney, the co-star of the TNT crime drama The Closer
The Closer
The Closer is an American crime drama, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who often closes her cases using sometimes-questionable methods...
.
Her two younger sisters also have many credits in the Hollywood film industry.
Career
Urdang graduated from the Yale School of DramaYale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
in 1981. After graduation, she, Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...
and Max Mayer co-founded New York Stage and Film as an institution for professional playwrights, directors, actors, and designers, as well apprentices, to live and work together to move their plays to Broadway and theaters throughout the nation. Some of these projects include the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
winning plays Sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
and Tru
Tru (play)
Tru is a play by Jay Presson Allen.Adapted from the words and works of Truman Capote, it is set in the writer's New York City apartment at 870 United Nations Plaza the week before Christmas 1975...
, and most recently John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He also contributed articles on the performing arts to The New York Times among other publications.-Life and career:...
's Pulitzer and Tony Award winning Doubt
Doubt
Doubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for...
. Urdang continues to be a Producing Director of the institution.
Urdang was a producer for Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
's company 'Wildwood Enterprises' and for Gary Ross
Gary Ross
Gary Ross is an American writer, director, and actor. He is best known for directing Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, both of which featured Tobey Maguire in the lead role...
' 'Larger Than Life Productions'. At both companies she developed several projects including the Walter Salles
Walter Salles
Walter Moreira Salles, Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence.-Life and career:Salles was born in Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Elizinha Goncalves and Walter Moreira Salles, a Brazilian banker and ambassador, and the brother of João Moreira Salles, also a...
directed The Motorcycle Diaries
The Motorcycle Diaries (film)
At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of...
.
With partners Michael Nozik
Michael Nozik
Michael Nozik is an American film producer. He won a BAFTA award for The Motorcycle Diaries in the category of 'Best Film Not In The English Language' in 2004. His credits also include Love in the Time of Cholera, Syriana, Quiz Show, and The Legend of Bagger Vance.- Filmography :- External links :...
and Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman
Michael Lynn Hoffman is an American film director.-Life and career:Hoffman was born in Hawaii and grew up in Payette, Idaho, played basketball, and attended college at Boise State University. There he was elected as student body president of BSU...
, Urdang founded 'Serenade Films' as an independent film company designed to produce a slate of low budget production. Serenade produced Michael Cuesta
Michael Cuesta
Michael Cuesta is an American film and television director. Cuesta co-wrote and directed the 2001 independent film, L.I.E.. He has directed and produced television series including Six Feet Under, Dexter and Blue Bloods.-Biography:He received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in...
's Twelve and Holding
Twelve and Holding
12 and Holding is a 2005 film directed by Michael Cuesta. The film is distributed by IFC Films and was released on May 19, 2005 in limited theaters.-Plot:...
(2006 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
nominee), The Great New Wonderful
The Great New Wonderful
The Great New Wonderful is a 2005 film written by Sam Catlin and directed by Danny Leiner.-Plot:The Great New Wonderful is a series of vignettes of incidents taking place concurrently around Manhattan. The only other thing linking the incidents is the month in which they occur: September 2002...
with Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. She made her screen debut when she began to appear in her father's films...
, Tony Shalhoub
Tony Shalhoub
Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
, Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...
, and Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, Michael Hoffman's Game 6
Game 6 (film)
Game 6 is a 2005 American film directed by Michael Hoffman, first presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and released in the United States in 2006...
with Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton
Michael John Douglas , better known by the stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor known for his early comedic roles, most notably his performance as the title character of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice . Keaton is also famous for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton's...
and Robert Downey, Jr., and The Narrows
The Narrows (2008 film)
The Narrows is an American 2008 independent film starring Kevin Zegers, Sophia Bush, Vincent D'Onofrio, Eddie Cahill and Monica Keena.-Plot:...
.
Some of her other producing credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 American film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel,...
starring Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, Me and Veronica starring Elizabeth McGovern
Elizabeth McGovern
-Early life:McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Katharine Wolcott , a high school teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, Jr., a university professor. Her paternal grandfather was adventurer William Montgomery McGovern and her maternal great-grandfather was U.S. diplomat...
and Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
, People I Know
People I Know
People I Know is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Daniel Algrant and stars Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, and Téa Leoni.-Plot:Eli Wurman is a Jewish publicist on the out, but all he knows is how to hustle and cajole, threaten and persuade. The hazy mania of his everyday life is fuelled by a steady...
starring Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
, and Olympus Pictures' Adam starring Hugh Dancy
Hugh Dancy
- Early life and career :Dancy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of British philosopher Jonathan Dancy, a professor at the University of Reading and at the University of Texas at Austin. His mother, Sarah, is a publisher. His brother, Jack, is a co-director of the travel company, Trufflepig...
and Rose Byrne
Rose Byrne
Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress.Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll...
. In March 2009, Urdang became president of Olympus Pictures.
Filmography
- Me and Veronica (1993)
- A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film)A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 American film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel,...
(1999) - People I KnowPeople I KnowPeople I Know is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Daniel Algrant and stars Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, and Téa Leoni.-Plot:Eli Wurman is a Jewish publicist on the out, but all he knows is how to hustle and cajole, threaten and persuade. The hazy mania of his everyday life is fuelled by a steady...
(2002) - Game 6Game 6Game 6 is a 2005 American film directed by Michael Hoffman, first presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and released in the United States in 2006...
(2005) - The Great New WonderfulThe Great New WonderfulThe Great New Wonderful is a 2005 film written by Sam Catlin and directed by Danny Leiner.-Plot:The Great New Wonderful is a series of vignettes of incidents taking place concurrently around Manhattan. The only other thing linking the incidents is the month in which they occur: September 2002...
(2005) - Twelve and HoldingTwelve and Holding12 and Holding is a 2005 film directed by Michael Cuesta. The film is distributed by IFC Films and was released on May 19, 2005 in limited theaters.-Plot:...
(2005) - The NarrowsThe Narrows (2008 film)The Narrows is an American 2008 independent film starring Kevin Zegers, Sophia Bush, Vincent D'Onofrio, Eddie Cahill and Monica Keena.-Plot:...
(2008) - Adam (2009)
- BeginnersBeginnersBeginners is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Mills. It tells the story of Oliver , a man reflecting on the life and death of his father while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman dealing with father issues of her own.Beginners premiered at the 2010...
(2010) - Rabbit HoleRabbit Hole (film)Rabbit Hole is a 2010 drama film starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, and Dianne Wiest, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell; the screenplay is an adaptation by David Lindsay-Abaire of his 2005 play of the same name. Kidman produced the project via her company, Blossom Films. The film premiered...
(2010) - The OrangesThe Oranges (film)The Oranges is an American romantic comedy by Likely Story and Olympus Pictures. At the moment, the film is in post production. The film had its world Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2011...
(2011) (completed) - Mister Pip (2012) (pre-production)
Awards and nominations
- 2007, nominated for John CassavetesJohn CassavetesJohn Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
Award at Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit AwardsThe Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
for Twelve and HoldingTwelve and Holding12 and Holding is a 2005 film directed by Michael Cuesta. The film is distributed by IFC Films and was released on May 19, 2005 in limited theaters.-Plot:...
External links
- Leslie Urdang at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- 2009 Leslie Urdang video interview at traileraddict.com
- 2009 photo (Urdang on right)
