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Tom Shadyac
Born	Thomas Peter Shadyac; December 11, 1958 (age 50); Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation	comedian, film director, producer and screenwriter
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Barker (1997-present)

Thomas Peter Shadyac (born December 11, 1958 in Falls Church, Virginia) is an American comedian, producer, director and writer of Lebanese Christian origins from the family Chidiac. He is mostly famous for his partnership with the comedian actor Jim Carrey.

[edit] Early life

Tom graduated from J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1976.

As a student at the University of Virginia, he produced a poster entitled "Are You a Preppy?" Borrowing from the style of National Lampoon and from the fact that preppies were in strong supply in Charlottesville and nearby Richmond, Virginia, the poster preceded the more famous The Official Preppy Handbook. The poster went into multiple printings and served as a fund-raiser for his fraternity, Sigma Chi.

He graduated from UVA in 1981 and later from UCLA Film School.

[edit] Career

Shadyac moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and, at age 24, become the youngest staff joke writer ever for comedian Bob Hope.

Shadyac had early associations with Hollywood comedy elite. His father, Richard C., Sr. a Washington DC attorney was a long time friend of comedian, actor and TV producer Danny Thomas. Thomas's charity and lifelong efforts were aimed at the founding and development of the St Jude Children's Research Hospital of Memphis, TN. The elder Shadyac served in many capacities relative to the hospital and served as CEO of the St. Jude fundraising arm ALSAC from 1992 until 2005.

He had a brief stint at acting, appearing in an episode of Magnum, P.I. and in the 1987 film, Jocks. Also received his master's degree in film from UCLA in 1989 after completing the critically acclaimed short, Tom, Dick and Harry. He then worked on movies-of-the-week, rewrote and directed for Fox.

His hit films with Carrey include Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, and the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective movie series. He collaborated with Eddie Murphy to write The Nutty Professor movie series. He directed Patch Adams starring Robin Williams and Dragonfly with Kevin Costner. He was also the executive producer to the ABC TV series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. His most recent directing stint was for Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty. In October 2006, at a Virginia Film Festival event^[1], he conceded that Evan Almighty would end up being the most expensive comedy ever made.

Shadyac is also currently a professor at Pepperdine University teaching a screenwriting course.

Frequently casts Jim Carrey in lead roles, often collaborates with Steve Oedekerk in working on a film and hires Don Zimmerman as the editor. Tom has his own production company for his movies called Shady Acres Entertainment.

[edit] Personal life

Shadyac has stated that he is a Lebanese Christian.

He has one older brother, Richard "Rick" C. Shadyac, Jr., who was an attorney for Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP law firm of Washington DC. He headed the Falls Church, VA office until he was appointed the new CEO of St. Jude's Children's Hospital fundraising arm, ALSAC in 2009.