Andy Schatzberg is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), After Hours (1985), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
Schatzberg was born in New York City in 1945. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and Columbia University, where he studied film and theater. After college, he began working as an assistant director and later a production manager on various independent films.
In 1973, Schatzberg made his feature film debut with The Seduction of Joe Tynan, a drama starring Meryl Streep and Alan Alda. This was followed by Taxi Driver (1976), which became a classic film that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The following year, Schatzberg directed Raging Bull, which was a critical and commercial success. The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and earned Robert De Niro an Oscar for Best Actor.
In 1982, Schatzberg directed The King of Comedy, a dark comedy starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. The film was a box office failure, but has since become a cult classic.
Schatzberg's next two films were After Hours (1985) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). After Hours was a black comedy starring Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette, and The Last Temptation of Christ was a controversial drama starring Willem Dafoe and Harvey Keitel.
In the 1990s, Schatzberg directed a number of films, including the romantic comedy Miami Blues (1990), the thriller Pacific Heights (1990), the drama Search and Destroy (1995), and the crime drama Night Falls on Manhattan (1996).
Schatzberg has since continued to work in the film industry, directing episodes of the TV series Law & Order and Medium, and producing films such as The Business of Strangers (2001) and The Jacket (2005).
Throughout his career, Schatzberg has become known for his ability to blend drama and comedy, and for his ability to create compelling characters. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, and has won numerous awards, including the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director for Raging Bull.
