Les Mayfield

Producer and director Les Mayfield got his start in filmmaking early on in life. His grandfather gave him an 8mm film camera when he was in fifth grade and he began shooting his family vacations and comedies featuring his neighbors. By 14 he was already becoming proficient behind the camera and won the Kodak Teenager Movie Award. Eventually he went on to study at the University of Southern California film school. While there, he founded his own production company, ZM Productions, along with a classmate. When he graduated he began to get work with director Steven Spielberg, directing and producing 'making-of' documentary specials such as "The Making of 'Back to the Future'" in 1985, and "The China Odyssey: 'Empire of the Sun', a film by Steven Spielberg" in 1987. 1992 marked his first time at the helm of a non-documentary feature when he directed the comedy "Encino Man," about a frozen caveman who thaws out in the modern world. The blockbuster success of that film allowed him to direct his next picture, a remake of the classic 1947 Christmas film "Miracle on 34th Street." He later went on to work on such films as 1997's "Flubber," 2001's "American Outlaws," and "Code Name: The Cleaner" in 2007. Mayfield is also a busy producer with scores of TV movies and video documentaries to his name including 1995's "Freaky Friday," 1996's "Encino Woman," and 2000's "The Making of 'Terminator 2 3D'."