David Dobkin Biography

David Dobkin (born June 23, 1969) is an American film director, producer and former screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Clay Pigeons, Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers, and The Judge.

Early life

A native of Washington D.C., Dobkin attended Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD. He then graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in Film & Television in 1991. He had launched his career six years earlier as an assistant to the production manager on John Schlesinger's film, The Believers. While pursuing his NYU film studies, he worked for Warner Bros. development division. His NYU thesis film, 57th Street Serenade, won several national and international awards including a 1992 C.I.N.E. Eagle and a Gold award at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a director.

Career

Dobkin helmed his first feature film, Clay Pigeons, for Scott Free the first film produced at Ridley and Tony Scott's production company that they did not direct. The black comedy about a series of small-town murders starred Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix and Janeane Garofalo, and was distributed by Gramercy Pictures. Dobkin followed the film by directing the hit comedy Shanghai Knights starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson

Dobkin has directed commercials for clients such as ESPN, Heineken (which earned him honors from SHOOT magazine), Carl's Jr., Coke, Honda, Coors Light and Sony PlayStation (which won a Bronze Lion at Cannes). His spots for the Utah Symphony were named "Spot of the Month" by Adweek Magazine and featured as the year's best in Communication Arts Magazine. Dobkin's music video credits include George Thorogood's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," Elton John's "You Can Make History" and Coolio's "1, 2, 3, 4" (MTV best dance video award), to name a few.

Quickly attracting the attention of several music labels, Dobkin made his music video debut with two video clips from rapper Tupac Shakur, both of which turned Platinum. Fifteen more videos followed in quick succession for such diverse music groups as Extreme, Robin Zander, Sonic Youth, dada, Blues Traveler, and others.

Dobkin produced the film adaption of the Dark Horse comic Rest in Peace Department and helmed the comedy film The Change-Up starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. He directed 2014's The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall.

Personal life

Dobkin married Megan Wolpert, a former film and television executive and daughter of screenwriter/producer Jay Wolpert.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	52nd Street Serenade	Director
1995	Love Street	Director	TV episode "Freudian Slip"
1998	Ice Cream Man	Screenwriter
1998	Clay Pigeons	Director
2003	Shanghai Knights	Director
2005	Wedding Crashers	Director
2007	Mr. Woodcock	Producer
2007	Fred Claus	Director, Producer
2011	The Change-Up	Director, Producer
2012	Last Call	Executive Producer
2013	Jack the Giant Slayer	Producer, Story
2013	R.I.P.D.	Executive Producer, Story
2014	The Judge	Director, Producer, Story
2015	Vacation	Producer