Mike Binder


Mike Binder is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor.

Life and career

Binder, descended from Russian-Jewish immigrants, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. During the summers of 1966 through 1975, he attended Camp Tamakwa, a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada; that experience was the inspiration for his 1993 film Indian Summer.
Beginning his career as a screenwriter and standup comedian, in March 1990 with the March 9 theatrical premiere of his first screenplay, Coupe de Ville, directed by Joe Roth and co-produced by Mike, and his own HBO stand up comedy special, broadcast the following night.
Binder's directorial debut was with his second screenplay, 1992's Crossing the Bridge.
Binder gained further prominence with his 20-episode 2001-02 HBO comedy series, The Mind of the Married Man, which he co-wrote, co-directed and starred in as the central character "Micky Barnes". That same year, his independently produced film The Sex Monster won "Best Film" and Binder won "Best Actor" at the 2001 Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
Binder wrote and directed three mid-2000s films in which he also played supporting roles. The first, The Upside of Anger, starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner, premiered at the January 2005 Sundance Film Festival; thirteen months later, Man About Town with Ben Affleck, was first seen at the February 2006 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and, after another thirteen months Reign Over Me was released; Binder directed, wrote, and appeared in the film, starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. His most recent film is 2014's Black or White, starring Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer.
As an actor, Binder has appeared in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report with Tom Cruise, Rod Lurie's The Contender with Joan Allen, and Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee with Robin Wright Penn.
Binder has directed most of the screenplays he has written, and has acted in many of them as well. As a writer, he has written screenplays for Steven Spielberg, Julia Roberts, Robert Zemeckis, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Tim Allen and Reese Witherspoon.
Binder's first novel, Keep Calm, a thriller set in the UK, was published in 2016. he directed stand-up comedian Bill Burr's most recent Netflix comedy special Paper Tiger

Filmography

YearTitleDirectorProducerWriterActorRoleNotes---
1990Coupe de Ville
---
1992Crossing the Bridge
---
1993Indian Summer
---
1994Blankman
Dr. Victor Norris---
1999The Sex Monster
Marty BarnesComedy Arts Festival for Best Actor
Comedy Arts Festival for Best Film		---
2000The Contender
Lewis Hollis---
2001–2002The Mind of the Married Man
Micky BarnesTV show, Creator---
2001Fourplay
Ben Greene---
2002Minority Report
Leo Crow---
2005The Upside of Anger
Adam "Shep" Goodman---
2006Man About Town
Morty---
2007Reign Over Me
Bryan Sugarman---
2009The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Sam Shapiro---
2011Fanboy
Acting coach---
2011One Day
Dexter's agentUncredited---
2014Black or White
---
2017–2018Nashville
rowspan=1|2019Paper Tiger