Craig Gillespie

Craig Gillespie, an American film director, has his name attached to notable films including the critically-acclaimed dramedy "Lars and the Real Girl" (2007), the 2011 remake of "Fright Night," and the true-life baseball story "Million Dollar Arm." Gillespie was born on September 1, 1979 in Sydney, Australia. At the age of nineteen, Gillespie moved to New York City to enroll at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts to study illustration, graphic design, and advertising. In the ensuing years, Gillespie became a successful commercial director, earning several Directors Guild of America nominations and a win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for his work with sub-prime mortgage lender Ameriquest and breath mint brand Altoids in 2006. In 2007 Gillespie made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy "Mr. Woodcock," which starring Academy Award-winner Billy Bob Thornton. The director then began work on "Lars the Real Girl," starring Ryan Gosling as a young man who falls in love with a plastic sex doll. In 2009, he was tapped by executive producers Diablo Cody and Steven Spielberg to direct several episodes of Cody's series, "The United States of Tara" (Showtime 2009-2011), a comedy-drama about a suburban housewife (Toni Collette) with multiple personalities. Gillespie's next feature was a remake of the 1985 horror cult favorite "Fright Night" (2011), starring Colin Farrell as vampire Jerry Dandridge. Gillespie followed "Fright Night" with the Walt Disney sports film "Million Dollar Arm" (2014). He has since directed and produced the film "I, Tonya" (2017), the story of Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding and her rival Nancy Kerrigan. Gillespie was also director and executive producer of the Hulu drama series "Pam & Tommy" (Hulu, 2022).