Producer, director and writer James L. Brooks was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for producing popular American television programs such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and The Simpsons, and making films such as Terms of Endearment (1983) for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984.
Brooks was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey and began his TV career as a writer for CBS News in 1984. After several years, he helped create The Mary Tyler Moore Show and it became a critical and commercial success, spawning other TV shows such as Rhoda, Taxi, and Lou Grant.
Brooks began working on films in the late 1970s but did not make a significant effort until Terms of Endearment. The next year, he started his own film and TV production company, Gracie Films, which produces The Simpsons. Brooks also became a mentor to young, talented filmmakers, executive producing the directorial debuts of Cameron Crowe with Say Anything… (1989) and Wes Anderson with Bottle Rocket (1996).
Brooks’ second film, Broadcast News (1987) was a hit with critics but he followed it up with the critical and commercial failure, I’ll Do Anything (1994). However, he bounced back with As Good As It Gets (1997) which was very popular with audiences and critics, earning seven Academy Award nominations and winning two for the lead actors, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.
