Daniel Petrie Jr.
(Writer / Director)

Daniel Petrie Jr.'s first produced script was the box-office hit Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy. That film earned Petrie an Academy Award® nomination. He also wrote the original screenplay of the provocative thriller The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. Branching out into producing, Petrie served as producer of the thriller Shoot to Kill, starring Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger and as executive producer of the comedy Turner & Hooch, starring Tom Hanks. Petrie also co-wrote both films. He also served as executive producer of The 6th Day, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Petrie's first outing as a director was the 1991 film Toy Soldiers, starring Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, and Louis Gossett Jr. He also co-wrote the screenplay. Petrie also directed In the Army Now, starring Pauly Shore, David Alan Grier, Lori Petty and Andy Dick; Toe Tags, a television pilot starring Barry Pepper; and HBO's Dead Silence, starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, which became the fifth highest rated HBO Original Movie up to that point in the network's history. He is also active in the Writers Guild, having been both president and vice president. Currently, Petrie serves on the Board of the Writers Guild Foundation and on the Writers Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.