Tom Shadyac

Directing

Tom Shadyac

Born December 11, 1958 · Falls Church, Virginia, USA (age 67)

Thomas Peter "Tom" Shadyac is an American comedian, director, screenwriter, and producer. Although Shadyac had been the youngest joke-writer ever for comedian Bob Hope, he is widely known for writing and directing the films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, and I Am. He is an adjunct professor of communication and teaches screenwriting at Pepperdine Univer…

Known For

Bruce AlmightyBruce Almighty · 2003
Bruce Almighty
6.72003
MovieFantasyComedy
Bruce Nolan toils as a "human interest" television reporter in Buffalo, NY, but despite his high ratings and the love of his beautiful girlfriend, Bruce remains unfulfilled. At the end of the worst day in his life, he angrily ridicules God — and the Almighty responds, endowing Bruce with all of His divine powers.
Ace Ventura: Pet DetectiveAce Ventura: Pet Detective · 1994
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
6.61994
MovieComedyCrime
He's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The Ace is on the case to find the Miami Dolphins' missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino. He goes eyeball to eyeball with a man-eating shark, stakes out the Miami Dolphins and woos and wows the ladies. Whether he's undercover, under fire or underwater, he always gets his man… or beast!
Liar LiarLiar Liar · 1997
Liar Liar
6.71997
MovieComedyFantasy
Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
Evan AlmightyEvan Almighty · 2007
Evan Almighty
5.62007
MovieFantasyComedy
God contacts Junior Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.
The Nutty ProfessorThe Nutty Professor · 1996
The Nutty Professor
5.61996
MovieComedyScience Fiction
When beautiful Carla Purty joins the university faculty, genetic professor Dr. Sherman Klump grows desperate to whittle his 400-pound frame down to size and win her heart. So, with one swig of his experimental fat-reducing serum, Sherman becomes 'Buddy Love', a fast-talking, pumped-up, plumped down Don Juan.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & LarryI Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry · 2007
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
6.12007
MovieComedyRomance
Firefighters Chuck Ford and Larry Valentine are guy's guys, loyal to the core—which is why when widower Larry asks Chuck to pose as his lover so that he can get domestic partner benefits for his kids, his buddy agrees. However, things get dicey when a bureaucrat comes calling, and the boys are forced to present a picture of domestic bliss.
Patch AdamsPatch Adams · 1998
Patch Adams
7.31998
MovieComedyDrama
The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own career.
AcceptedAccepted · 2006
Accepted
6.52006
MovieComedy
A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.

Filmography

Sort
HappyHappy · 2012
Happy
7.12012
MovieDocumentary
Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology. Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a "co-housing community" in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.

Executive Producer

I AmI Am · 2010
I Am
7.32010
MovieDocumentary
I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Director