Jeff McCracken

Jeff McCracken is a producer, director, and actor working in film and television. Born on September 12, 1952, in Chicago, McCracken began his acting career auspiciously, with a prominent supporting role in the Jack Palance-starring crime thriller "The One Man Jury" in 1978. In 1983, he appeared in all 10 episodes of the short-lived Steven Bochco drama "Bay City Blues," and had a major supporting part in the film drama based on the life of Native-American runner Billy Mills, "Running Brave," which starred Robby Benson. In 1984, McCracken had a lead role on the single-season (again, 10 episodes) cop drama "Hawaiian Heat," his last major acting part, though he continued landing small parts into the 2000s. His transition into producing and directing began in the early '90s, most prominently as just one of two producers for all 65 episodes of the animated family comedy "Dinosaurs" from 1991 to '95. From there he moved onto his longest-running directing gig, helming 51 episodes of the family comedy "Boy Meets World," from '95 to 2000; he also produced, in some capacity, over 90 episodes. Though the 2000s were slow for McCracken, it was all leading up to 2010, when he wrote, produced, and directed the drama "Jimmy Nolan," a film about a family raising a teenage boy with autism.