John Hamburg

Successful comedy writer/director John Hamburg made his first feature film, 1998's "Safe Men," after studying at the Tisch School of the Arts. An indie crime caper featuring Steve Zahn and Sam Rockwell, "Safe Men" showed at the Sundance Film Festival. Two years later, Hamburg tried his hand at Hollywood comedy, penning the script for the blockbuster "Meet the Parents," starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Following the smash success of the film, Hamburg helped handle the screenplay for another Stiller vehicle, the 2001 fashion industry satire "Zoolander." The early 2000s also found Hamburg stepping into television to try his hand at directing again, helming episodes of the Judd Apatow-produced sitcom "Undeclared" and the offbeat sketch show "Stella." In 2004, he teamed up with Stiller once more, writing and directing the romantic comedy "Along Came Polly," which co-starred Jennifer Aniston. Continuing to work with Stiller, Hamburg wrote two follow-ups to "Meet the Parents," "Meet the Fockers" and "Little Fockers." Between those two sequels, Hamburg created the short-lived CBS sitcom "Welcome to the Captain." After the show was cancelled, he wrote the 2009 and directed the commercially successful "bromantic" comedy "I Love You Man," which starred Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.