Jonathan Levine was born and raised in New York City. He has been making films since the age of 12. Following his graduation from Brown University's Art/Semiotics program, he worked in New York as personal assistant to renowned writer-director Paul Schrader. In 2002, Levine moved to Los Angeles to attend the AFI Conservatory as a director.
More recently, Levine wrote and directed the Sony comedy hit The Night Before, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie. Previously, he wrote and directed the feature film adaptation of the novel Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion for Lionsgate. The film opened to both mass critical and commercial acclaim, and has grossed over $115 million worldwide.
Levine also directed the Showtime pilot I'm Dying Up Here, a dark comedy set in the 1970s Los Angeles comedy scene starring and executive produced by Jim Carrey. Additionally, Levine has direced Fox's Untitled Mother-Daughter Comedy, starring and produced by Amy Schumer, and has directed and produced the pilot 305, a Miami-set drama from Pitbull, also at Fox.
Previously, Levine directed 50/50 for Mandate Pictures. The critically acclaimed and Golden Globe nominated film is based on screenwriter Will Reiser's story and was released in 2011 by Summit Entertainment. The film, which stars Joseph Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anna Kendrick, follows the story of Adam Lerner, played by Levitt, who at 25 is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer.
Levine made his feature directorial debut with All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, which was later released by The Weinstein Co. in October 2013. Levine's second feature and his first as both writer and director was 2008's The Wackness, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and LA Film Festival. Starring Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck, the film also earned Levine an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay and was released by Sony Pictures Classics.
20th Century Fox
