Biography for
Stephen Sommers More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 March 1962, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Mini Biography

Stephen Sommers was born on March 20, 1962 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Raised in St. Cloud, Minnesota, he attended St. John's University and the University of Seville in Spain. Afterward, Sommers spent the next four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe.

From there, he relocated to Los Angeles and attended the USC School of Cinema-Television for three years, earning a Masters Degree, where he wrote and directed an award winning short film called "Perfect Alibi". With independent funding, he wrote and directed his first motion picture Catch Me If You Can (1989) which was filmed on location in his hometown St. Cloud, Minnesota. Sommers then went on to write and direct The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) as well as the latest version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) both for Walt Disney Pictures. Sommers also wrote the screenplays for the grade-B action flick Gunmen (1993) and the Disney adventure Tom and Huck (1995) which he also executive produced. He also wrote and directed the suspense-thriller Deep Rising (1998), and the latest version of The Mummy (1999). For television, Sommers wrote and executive produced Oliver Twist (1997) (TV) for director Tony Bill.

Most recently, he wrote and directed the sequel to The Mummy (1999), titled The Mummy Returns (2001), as well as the horror-thriller-action epic Van Helsing (2004), and the live-action adaptation G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).

IMDb Mini Biography By: matt-282

Spouse

Jana Sommers

(24 July 1993 - present) 2 children

Trade Mark

His movies are based on classics

His films often have no opening credits (e.g. The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004)).

His films rely very heavily on CGI special effects

His movies contain non-stop action

Trivia

Attended the USC School of Cinema-Television in Los Angeles for three years, earning a Masters Degree.

Industrial Light & Magic jokingly created the "Stephen Sommers Scale" to measure the extent of digital effects used in a given movie scene. The four parts of the scale, from lowest to highest, are "What The Shot Needs", "What The Computers Can Handle", "Oh My God, The Computers Are About To Crash", and finally "What Stephen Wants".

Frequently casts 'Kevin J. O'Connor (I)' and Jason Flemyng in his films.

Has two daughters, Samantha Sommers (born 1996) and Ashley Sommers (born 1999) with his wife, Jana Sommers.

Attended St. John's University and The University of Seville in Spain.

2001: Lives in Pacific Palisades.

Went to film school and frequently works with editor/writer Bob Ducsay.

Personal Quotes

[He has just demonstrated (badly) what emotion he wants in a chase scene, then looks at the camera] You see that? That was me acting. That's why I stay back here.

Don't let them tell you less is more. More is more.

[on why he will not be a screenwriter for "Magic Kingdom for Sale"] I usually write everything I direct, and I'm tired of working seven days a week. It'll be fun to turn to Lowell and Babaloo and go, 'You figure it out.'

Where Are They Now

(August 2003) Doing Post-Production on his film Van Helsing (2004), due to be released on 7 May 2004.