Ron Underwood

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Ron Underwood
Underwood in 2006
Born
Ronald Brian Underwood

(1953-11-06) November 6, 1953 (age 70)
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupation(s)Film and television director
Years active1980–present
SpouseSandy Underwood
ChildrenLarissa, Lana, Lauren

Ronald Brian Underwood (born November 6, 1953) is an American film and television director, known for directing such films as Tremors (1990), City Slickers (1991), Heart and Souls (1993), and Mighty Joe Young (1998).

Early life

Underwood was born November 6, 1953, in

Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, as an AFS Intercultural Programs exchange student. After graduating from high school, he briefly attended Occidental College as a pre-med student, but transferred to the USC School of Cinema (now USC School of Cinematic Arts) after deciding to become a filmmaker. Underwood majored in cinema with a minor in anthropology
. While at USC, he directed the first film produced about the sport of hang gliding, "The New Freedom". It was distributed by Paramount Communications, a short film division of Paramount Pictures.

Film career

Early career (1976–1989)

Upon completion of his fellowship at the

Daytime Emmy
nomination.

Mainstream breakthrough (1990–present)

Following his critically acclaimed venture into television, Underwood moved into directing feature films. His first effort was

cult classic
.

Underwood received his first taste of commercial success with 1991's

Academy Award for his performance. The film made $179m worldwide with a budget of only $27m. It was the tenth most successful film released in 1991 (the fifth most successful in the US). His next film, also written by Maddock & Wilson, Heart and Souls (1993), was again well-received by critics but struggled at the box office (making a total of $16m in the US). It starred Robert Downey, Jr., Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Charles Grodin, Tom Sizemore, Elisabeth Shue and David Paymer. He followed this with Speechless
(1994), written by Robert King and starring Michael Keaton and Geena Davis.

Given the opportunity to direct a big-budget film by

Academy Award for Visual Effects and featured some of the most sophisticated special effects seen in film up to that point, paving the way for later ape films like Peter Jackson's King Kong
(2005). The special effects drove production costs to around $90m.

Following Mighty Joe Young, Underwood began work on Eddie Murphy fronted The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The film also starred Rosario Dawson, Peter Boyle and Pam Grier. Unfortunately, the film was greeted with poor reception.

Underwood returned to his roots, directing both low-budget films and television. He directed

.

Filmography

Films

Director

Other credits

Year Title Notes
1976 Futureworld Production assistant
1978 Capricorn One Location manager
1979 Tourist Trap First assistant director
1986 Crawlspace Associate producer
1996 Tremors 2: Aftershocks Executive producer

Television

TV movies

TV series

Year Title Episode(s)
1986 ABC Weekend Special
  • "The Mouse and the Motorcycle"
  • "Runaway Ralph"
2003 Monk
  • "Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater"
  • "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico"
2004 Boston Legal
  • "Change of Course"
  • "The Ass Fat Jungle"
2007 Reaper
  • "Magic"
  • "My Brothers's Reaper"
  • "Dirty Sexy Mongol"
2008 The Secret Life of the American Teenager
  • "Falling in Love"
  • "What Have You Done to Me?"
  • "I Feel Sick"
Ugly Betty
Eli Stone
  • "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
  • "One More Try"
2009 Make It or Break It
  • "Where's Kaylie?"
Drop Dead Diva
  • "The 'F' Word"
  • "Dead Model Walking"
2010 Heroes
Happy Town
  • "Questions and Antlers"
No Ordinary Family
  • "No Ordinary Vigilante"
Hellcats
  • "Worried Baby Blues"
  • "Finish What We Started"
Chaos
  • "Song of the North"
  • "Love and Rockets"
  • "Mincemeat"
2011 Necessary Roughness
  • "Anchor Management"
Harry's Law
  • "American Girl"
  • "The Whole Truth"
2011–2013 Castle
  • "Food to Die For"
  • "Scared to Death"
2012 Burn Notice
  • "Means and Ends"
Desperate Housewives
  • "What's the Good of Being Good"
2012–2018 Once Upon a Time
2012–2013
Scandal
  • "Hunting Season"
  • "Snake in the Garden"
2012–2015 Grey's Anatomy
  • "Suddenly"
  • "The Girl With No Name"
  • "Things We Said Today"
  • "You Got To Hide Your Love Away"
  • "All I Could Do Is Cry"
2013 The Glades
  • "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"
  • "Fast Ball"
2014–2015 Nashville
  • "We've Got Things To Do"
  • "Unguarded Moments"
2014 Resurrection
  • "Us Against the World"
  • "Multiple"
2014–2016 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
2016 Quantico
  • "Drive"
Dead of Summer
  • "Barney Rubble Eyes"
BrainDead
  • "Taking on Water: How Leaks in D.C. Are Discovered and Patched"
No Tomorrow
  • "No Regrets"
2016–2019 Hawaii Five-0
  • "Ka hale ho 'okauweli"
  • "He kaha lu'u ke ala, mai kolo aku"
  • "A'ohe kio pohaku nalo i ke alo pali"
  • "Ka la 'au kumu 'ole o Kahilikolo"
2017–2018 The Good Fight
  • "Stoppable: Requiem for an Airdate"
  • "Day 429"
  • "Day 485"
2017 Kevin (Probably) Saves the World
  • "Dave"
2018–2019 MacGyver
  • "Mac + Jack"
  • "Fence + Suitcase + Americium-241"
2018–2019 Magnum P.I.
  • "The Ties That Bind"
  • "Lie, Cheat, Steal, Kill"
2019–2023 Fear the Walking Dead
  • "210 Words Per Minute"
  • "The Key"
  • "Cindy Hawkins"
  • "Sonny Boy"
  • "Odessa"
2019
Grand Hotel
  • "Smokeshow"
Evil
  • "177 Minutes"
2021–2022 Big Shot
  • "TCKS"
  • "Carlsbad Crazies"
  • "Everything to Me"
  • "BOYS!"
2021 Evil
  • "C Is for Cop"
2022 Tales of the Walking Dead
  • "Evie / Joe"
2022–2024 La Brea
  • "The Fog"
  • "Sierra"
  • "Don't Look Up"
2024 Elsbeth
  • "Reality Shock"

Awards and nominations

Peabody Award
:

  • 1986 Peabody Award ("ABC Weekend Specials", "The Mouse and the Motorcycle")

Daytime Emmy Awards
:

  • 1989: Special Class Directing (ABC Weekend Specials, "Runaway Ralph" nominated)

Academy Awards:

  • 1992: Best Supporting Actor (Jack Palance City Slickers, winner)

Saturn Award
:

  • 1994: Best Director (Heart and Souls, nominated)

Academy Awards:

  • 1999: Best Visual Effects (Mighty Joe Young, nominated)

Golden Raspberry Awards:

  • 2003: Worst Director (The Adventures of Pluto Nash, nominated)

Directors Guild of America Award
:

  • 2007: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs (The Year Without a Santa Claus, nominated)

References

External links