Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman Bio

Jason R. Reitman (born October 19, 1977) is a Canadian and American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up in the Air (2009), Young Adult (2011), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Saturday Night (2024). Over the course of his career, he has received one Grammy Award, one Golden Globe, and four Academy Award nominations, including two for Best Director.

The son of acclaimed director Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman has built a reputation for character-driven independent films and comedies, often collaborating with screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Gil Kenan. He works as a film director, producer, screenwriter, and occasional actor, and holds dual Canadian and American citizenship.

Early Life and Background

Jason R. Reitman was born on October 19, 1977, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the son of Geneviève Robert, an actress sometimes billed as Geneviève Deloir, and film director Ivan Reitman. Reitman has two younger sisters: Catherine Reitman, an actress, producer, and writer, and Caroline Reitman, a nurse. His father was born in Czechoslovakia to Jewish parents who were Holocaust survivors, and his mother is of French-Canadian descent who converted to Judaism.

When Reitman was still a child, his family relocated to Los Angeles, where his father had built a major Hollywood career directing films such as Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Stripes, and Kindergarten Cop. Reitman grew up on film sets, with photographs of himself as a baby taken on the set of Animal House in 1978. Bill Murray once said that Reitman was a pain in the ass while filming Ghostbusters, while Dan Aykroyd joked that he was directing back then. These early experiences taught Reitman that making movies is a job that ordinary people do, and he learned how to edit film in the editing rooms of his father’s productions. He also made cameo appearances in several of his father’s films, including a role as a student in Kindergarten Op.

Reitman has described his childhood self as a loser, a movie geek, and shy. He graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, Los Angeles, in 1995, where he was also a competitive high jumper coached by Phil Sweeney. He later attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, intending to major in pre-med studies, before transferring to the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, where he majored in English and creative writing and performed with the improv group Commedus Interruptus.

Path to Directing

Reitman began making short films while attending USC, and throughout his twenties he chose to make his own short films and direct commercials rather than accept offers to direct commercial feature films. He twice declined the opportunity to direct Dude, Where’s My Car? In the late 1980s, he had already started appearing in small acting parts and serving as a production assistant on his father’s films, learning the craft from the ground up.

He financed his first short film, Operation, with money earned by selling ads in desk calendars, and the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. Reitman wrote and directed six short films before transitioning to features. He also built a side career directing commercials for major brands such as Wal-Mart, Burger King, Nintendo, BMW, and Buick. His festival success and commercial reel helped him secure financing for his first feature, marking his transition from short-form and advertising work to the broader film industry.

Jason Reitman Career

Early Career (2005–2006)

Reitman’s first feature film, Thank You for Smoking, opened in 2005. He developed the Christopher Buckley novel into a screenplay and eventually into a film, which was both a commercial and critical success, grossing more than $39 million worldwide and earning two Golden Globe nominations. The success of Thank You for Smoking established Reitman as a fresh voice in independent cinema.

During this period, Reitman also made strides in television and advertising. In 2006, he formed the production company Hard C Productions with producing partner Daniel Dubiecki, signing an overall deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures. The company aimed to produce small subversive comedy that is independent but accessible, including Jennifer’s Body, a horror comedy written by Diablo Cody and starring Megan Fox.

Breakthrough (2007–2010)

Reitman’s second film, Juno, generated widespread buzz after premiering at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in December 2007. It became Roger Ebert’s favorite film of 2007 and received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Elliot Page’s performance as the title character, Diablo Cody’s original screenplay, and Reitman himself for Best Director. Juno grossed more than $140 million at the U.S. box office, becoming the largest commercial success of Reitman’s career and surpassing any of his father’s films since Kindergarten Cop. Reitman won Best Director at the 2008 Canadian Comedy Awards for his work on the film.

In 2009, Reitman formed Right of Way Films and directed Up in the Air, starring George Clooney as a corporate downsizer who travels from city to city while collecting frequent flier miles. The screenplay, co-written with Sheldon Turner, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay in 2010. The film earned Reitman another Academy Award nomination for Best Director, as well as additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Clooney.

Reitman also executive produced the erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010, helping persuade Amanda Seyfried to star in the film. The film became director Atom Egoyan’s biggest moneymaker at the time.

Notable Works and Milestones

Reitman’s signature work remains the trio of Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air, which collectively earned him two Best Director Academy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. He continued his winning streak with Young Adult (2011), a collaboration with Diablo Cody, before returning to the Ghostbusters franchise with Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), a continuation of the original films directed by his father Ivan Reitman. Following the success of that film, Reitman and his co-writer Gil Kenan formed Reitman/Kenan Productions and signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. On October 11, 2024, he co-wrote and directed Saturday Night, a comedy biopic about the live broadcast of Saturday Night Live’s first episode on October 11, 1975, which Dan Aykroyd described as a stand alone masterpiece.

Jason Reitman Award Nominations

Jason Reitman has earned four Academy Award nominations across his career, including two for Best Director for Juno and Up in the Air, along with nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay tied to Up in the Air. He has also received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and the British Academy Film Awards for his directing and screenwriting work.

Jason Reitman Awards Won

Reitman has won one Grammy Award, one Golden Globe Award, and a Best Director prize at the 2008 Canadian Comedy Awards. He also took the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay in 2010 for Up in the Air, co-written with Sheldon Turner.

Jason Reitman Family

Jason Reitman is the son of director Ivan Reitman and actress Geneviève Robert. His father directed many of the most popular comedies of the 1980s and early 1990s, including Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Stripes, and Kindergarten Cop. Reitman has two younger sisters: Catherine Reitman, an actress, producer, and writer, and Caroline Reitman, a nurse.

Personal Life

Reitman holds dual citizenship in Canada and the United States and has described himself as a libertarian. He married writer Michele Lee in 2004, and the couple co-wrote the 2004 comedic short Consent. Their daughter, Josie, was born in 2006. After ten years of marriage, Reitman filed for divorce in June 2011, and the divorce was finalized in 2014.