Spike Jonze Bio
Adam Spiegel, known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer whose work spans feature films, commercials, music videos, skateboard films, and television. Born in New York City in 1969, he first gained attention as a teenage BMX and skateboarding photographer before moving into directing, shaping the visual language of 1990s youth culture. A co-founder of the skateboard company Girl Skateboards and the creative director of Vice Media, Jonze is widely regarded as one of the most inventive directors of his generation.
He is best known for directing the feature films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), and Her (2013). For Her, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, cementing his reputation for blending emotional intimacy with speculative ideas. Beyond features, he has directed acclaimed work for clients including Apple, Nike, IKEA, Adidas, Levi’s, Gap, Squarespace, and Kenzo.
Early Life and Background
Adam Spiegel was born on October 22, 1969, in New York City, the son of Arthur H. Spiegel III and Sandra L. Granzow. His father, of German Jewish ancestry, founded a healthcare consulting firm and was the great-grandson of Arthur Spiegel, a prominent figure tied to the Spiegel catalog. Jonze is also the great-great-grandson of Joseph Spiegel, the catalog’s founder. His parents divorced when he was young, and his father later remarried.
Raised primarily by his mother in Bethesda, Maryland, where she worked in public relations, Jonze grew up alongside his brother Sam “Squeak E. Clean” Spiegel, who later became a producer and DJ, and his sister Julia. He attended Walt Whitman High School, where he developed a close friendship with future Jackass co-creator Jeff Tremaine through their shared love of BMX. It was there that the owner of a local community store, Mike Henderson, gave him the nickname “Spike Jonze,” a playful nod to the satirical bandleader Spike Jones.
At sixteen, Jonze took a job at the Rockville BMX store in Rockville, Maryland, a frequent stop for touring professional BMX teams. He began photographing BMX demos, which caught the eye of Freestylin’ Magazine editors Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, who offered him a staff photography job. He later moved to California to pursue opportunities in the magazine world, teaming with Lewman and Jenkins to create the youth culture publications Homeboy and Dirt.
Path to Filmmaking
While shooting for BMX and skateboarding publications in California, Jonze was introduced to a community of professional skateboarders who often shared ramps with BMX riders. He formed a close friendship with Mark Gonzales, co-owner of the newly formed Blind Skateboards, and began photographing the company’s young team, including Jason Lee, Guy Mariano, and Rudy Johnson. Jonze became a regular contributor to Transworld Skateboarding and was hired by Steve Rocco’s World Industries to shoot advertisements and promotional videos.
He produced his first skateboarding video, Rubbish Heap, for World Industries in 1989, followed by Video Days for Blind Skateboards in 1991, a release that became hugely influential in the skateboarding community. The video’s subject, Mark Gonzales, presented a copy to Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth following a chance encounter, and Gordon later asked Jonze to co-direct the music video for the band’s 1992 single “100%.” That collaboration opened the door to a prolific career directing music videos for artists including R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Weezer, Björk, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, and Kanye West.
In 1993, Jonze co-founded Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll, the same year he co-directed The Breeders’ “Cannonball” with Gordon. His growing reputation for visually inventive, narrative-driven videos led to work with Weezer (“Buddy Holly” and “Undone – The Sweater Song”), the Beastie Boys (“Sure Shot” and “Sabotage”), and a wide range of other artists. These projects established the distinctive blend of humor, performance, and cinematic storytelling that would later define his feature work.
Spike Jonze Career
Early Career (1985–1998)
Jonze’s career began in 1985 as a teenage photographer for BMX and skateboarding publications. His first skateboarding video, Rubbish Heap, came in 1989, followed by the landmark Video Days in 1991. By the mid-1990s, he was one of the most in-demand music video directors in the industry, helming iconic clips for Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet,” the Weezer singles “Buddy Holly” and “Undone – The Sweater Song,” the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” Daft Punk’s “Da Funk,” and the Chemical Brothers’ “Elektrobank.”
He also moved into commercials and acting, directing a celebrated Nike spot titled “Guerrilla Tennis” with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in 1995, and making a brief on-screen appearance in the 1994 drama Mi Vida Loca. In 1997, he directed the short film How They Get There, the documentary Amarillo by Morning, and a celebrated Sprite commercial. His 1998 “Praise You” video for Fatboy Slim, featuring his alter ego Richard Koufey and the Torrance Community Dance Group, won multiple MTV Video Music Awards and was later expanded into the short mockumentary Torrance Rises.
Breakthrough (1999–2002)
The first feature film Jonze directed was Being John Malkovich in 1999, written by Charlie Kaufman and starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich. The screenplay, passed to Jonze by his then-father-in-law Francis Ford Coppola, follows a puppeteer who discovers a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich. The film was released to near-universal acclaim, with critics such as Roger Ebert naming it the best film of 1999, and earned Jonze an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
That same year, he co-starred alongside George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube in David O. Russell’s war comedy Three Kings (1999), with a role written specifically for him. In 2002, he reunited with Charlie Kaufman for the meta-comedy Adaptation, starring Nicolas Cage in a dual role as Kaufman and his fictional twin brother Donald, alongside Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper. The film was widely praised for its originality. He also co-created, executive produced, and occasionally appeared in MTV’s Jackass (2000–2002) and produced the feature Jackass: The Movie (2002). For the short film “Lamp” for IKEA, he won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
Where the Wild Things Are and Her (2009–2013)
In 2009, Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are, a film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s children’s book, co-written with Dave Eggers and starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, and the voices of James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Dano. The film received generally positive reviews for its emotional depth, though it underperformed at the box office. He also wrote and directed the short We Were Once a Fairytale (2009) starring Kanye West, and co-directed the documentary Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak with Lance Bangs.
Jonze’s 2013 romantic science fiction drama Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, and Scarlett Johansson, was his first solo original screenplay. The film follows a recently divorced man who develops a relationship with an intuitive operating system. Her was met with universal critical acclaim and earned Jonze the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, and additional Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Song for “The Moon Song,” co-written with Karen O.
Notable Works and Milestones
Across his career, Jonze has shaped the visual culture of independent film, skateboarding, and music video art. His landmark music videos, including “Buddy Holly” for Weezer, “Sabotage” for the Beastie Boys, and “Weapon of Choice” for Fatboy Slim, helped redefine the form. He won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations for his screenplays, and his commercial work for Apple HomePod, Nike, IKEA, and Kenzo has earned multiple Directors Guild of America Awards and a Cannes Lions Grand Prix.
Spike Jonze Award Nominations
Spike Jonze has earned major award nominations across his career, beginning with his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director for Being John Malkovich in 2000. For Her, he received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Song, and Best Original Screenplay, the last of which he won. He has also been nominated at the Golden Globe Awards and the BAFTA Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Her.
Spike Jonze Awards Won
Spike Jonze’s most prominent awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, both won in 2014 for Her. He has also received two consecutive Directors Guild of America Awards for his commercial work in 2018 and 2019, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his IKEA “Lamp” commercial, and multiple MTV Video Music Awards for his music video direction.
Spike Jonze Family
Spike Jonze was born to Arthur H. Spiegel III, the founder of a healthcare consulting firm, and Sandra L. Granzow, who worked in public relations. He is the great-grandson of Arthur Spiegel and the great-great-grandson of Joseph Spiegel, founder of the Spiegel catalog. He has a brother, Sam “Squeak E. Clean” Spiegel, who works as a producer and DJ, and a sister, Julia. He was raised primarily in Bethesda, Maryland, by his mother following his parents’ divorce.
Personal Life
Jonze married director Sofia Coppola on June 26, 1999, after meeting her in 1992 on the set of the Sonic Youth “100%” music video. The couple filed for divorce on December 5, 2003, citing irreconcilable differences. Following his divorce, Jonze dated singer Karen O in 2005, actress Drew Barrymore in 2007, actress Michelle Williams from 2008 to 2009, and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi in 2010. He has been in a relationship with artist Allie Teilz since 2019, and the couple have three sons, twins born in 2023 and another son born in 2024.