movies
celebrities
tv
trailers
box office
photos
dvd
fans
Get Movie Showtimes
Select a Movie
Select a Movie
Now Playing
Act of Valor
(R)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Artist, The
(PG13)
Beauty and the Beast 3D
(G)
Big Miracle
(PG)
Chronicle
(PG13)
Contraband
(R)
Descendants, The
(R)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(PG13)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance 3D
(PG13)
Grey, The
(R)
Iron Lady, The
(PG13)
Jack and Jill
(PG)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
(PG)
Man on a Ledge
(PG13)
Muppets, The
(PG)
One for the Money
(PG13)
Red Tails
(PG13)
Safe House
(R)
This Means War
(R)
Underworld: Awakening
(R)
Vow, The
(PG13)
War Horse
(PG13)
Woman in Black, The
(PG13)
Go to
More Movies
OR
Find Theaters
Search
Sign up for our Newsletter
Fan Us
Follow Us
Ted Demme
MAIN
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
NEWS
CREDITS
BIOGRAPHY
AWARDS
FANSITES
FORUM
BIRTHDAY
October 26, 1964
DIED
January 13, 2002
RECENT CREDITS
A Decade Under the Influence
(FILM)
Apr. 25, 2003
Blow
(FILM)
Apr. 6, 2001
Life
(FILM)
Apr. 16, 1999
Tumbleweeds
(FILM)
Jan. 22, 1999
Monument Ave.
(FILM)
Sep. 25, 1998
View all
Ted Demme Credits
BIOGRAPHY
A rising young filmmaker who brought a humorous edge to his Hollywood work, TV producer-turned-movie director Ted Demme's career was abruptly cut short by his death in January 2002.
Born in New York City, Demme....
Expand Full Bio
A rising young filmmaker who brought a humorous edge to his Hollywood work, TV producer-turned-movie director Ted Demme's career was abruptly cut short by his death in January 2002.
Born in New York City, Demme may have been a college athlete, but he preferred to follow his uncle Jonathan Demme's lead, entering the entertainment industry after school. Starting his career as a production assistant at MTV, Demme quickly made his mark as one of the creators of the trailblazing hit series Yo! MTV Raps in 1988. After honing his skills as a producer and music video director for MTV, Demme helmed his first feature, hip-hop comedy Who's the Man? (1993), and reached a key professional turning point when he directed comic Denis Leary's TV special No Cure for Cancer (1992).
Hitting it off with Leary and in tune with his hilariously caustic sensibility, Demme subsequently established his promise as a movie director when he teamed with Leary for his second feature, the acid comedy The Ref (1994). Starring Leary as a rough-edged cat burglar who gets entangled with a highly dysfunctional Connecticut family on Christmas Eve, The Ref earned kudos for Leary, Judy Davis, and up-and-comer Kevin Spacey's riotously sharp performances, and evolved into a sleeper hit on video and TV after a lackluster theatrical run. Although he continued to work in TV, directing episodes for the highly regarded series Homicide: Life in the Streets, Demme further burnished his movie reputation with the ensemble romantic comedy Beautiful Girls (1996). Inspired in part by The Deer Hunter's (1978) perceptive take on small town, working-class male friendship, Beautiful Girls' story of a Big Chill-esque (1983) reunion was enhanced by the superb young Hollywood cast, particularly Natalie Portman as the precocious object of Timothy Hutton's affection. As with The Ref, however, Beautiful Girls left more of an impression on critics than at the box office.
Reuniting with his favorite "bad boy" entertainer, Demme helmed Leary's TV special Lock N' Load (1997), and helped reveal that Leary had acting chops beyond comedy in the gritty street drama Monument Ave. (1998). Centering on Boston's Irish-American "mob," Monument Ave. starred Leary as a car thief suffering a crisis of conscience when too closely confronted with the corrupt relationship between the mob and the law. Monument Ave., though, garnered more attention at film festivals than theaters. After the comedy-drama Life (1999), starring Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy as two wrongly imprisoned lifers, failed to measure up to the popular clout of its stars, Demme drew more favorable attention for his TV work as one of the executive producers of the scathing insider comedy series Action (1999) and co-producer of the serious HBO film A Lesson Before Dying (1999). A 1940s drama about a black man wrongly sentenced to death, A Lesson Before Dying earned Demme an Emmy award.
Anxious to make a movie about American cocaine kingpin George Jung since Leary had turned him on to the story several years before, Demme's wish finally came to fruition as Blow (2001). Starring Johnny Depp as Jung, and shot and scored with great flair, Blow began as a zingy Goodfellas (1990)-meets-Boogie Nights (1997) account of Jung's 1970s rise before degenerating into an awkward attempt to render Jung as a sentimental hero who just loves his daughter. Still, Blow confirmed Demme's visual talents as well as his way with actors. Demme was in preproduction on the Ewan McGregor-Heath Ledger thriller Nautica, as well as working on an IFC documentary about 1970s American cinema, when he died of cardiac arrest after a celebrity basketball game on January 13, 2002. Demme's final completed project, A Decade Under the Influence (2003), was released a year after Demme's death. Co-directed by Richard LaGravenese, A Decade Under the Influence chronicled the artistic renaissance in 1970s Hollywood, paying tribute to the iconoclasts who helped to inspire Demme's own work as a filmmaker.
~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Collapse Full Bio
- Portions of Content Provided by
Rovi Data Solutions
© 2009 Rovi Data Solutions, Inc.
Headlines
Ted Demme had cocaine in his system
Feb. 3, 2002
Cocaine was found in director Ted Demme's system which may have caused his fatal heart attack last month.
Read Story
Director Ted Demme dies at 38
Posted: Jan. 14, 2002
News Roundup: Oct. 16
Posted: Oct. 16, 2001
Moviegoers celebrate "Mummy"'s Day
Posted: May. 6, 2001
View all
Ted Demme Headlines
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Recently Worked With...
Johnny Depp
Blow
Released: Apr. 6, 2001
Janet McTeer
Tumbleweeds
Released: Nov. 24, 1999
Eddie Murphy
Life
Released: Apr. 16, 1999
Matt Damon
Rounders
Released: Sep. 11, 1998
Denis Leary
Monument Ave.
Released: Jan. 1, 1997
Timothy Hutton
Beautiful Girls
Released: Feb. 9, 1996
Christine Baranski
The Ref
Released: Mar. 9, 1994
Collapse
Expand to view more
Fan Sites
Ted Demme Fansites
No fan sites available. Create the first!
Are you the #1 Ted Demme Fan? Sign Up To Create A Website Here.
Go
Build a Fan Site
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Top 5 Celebrities
Naomi Watts
September 28, 1968
Shoreham, England
Channing Tatum
April 26, 1980
Cullman, AL
Angelina Jolie
June 04, 1975
Los Angeles, CA
Rachel McAdams
October 07, 1976
London, Ontario, Canada
Zooey Deschanel
January 17, 1980
Los Angeles, CA
Go to
Top 100 Celebs