Norman Jewison is one of Hollywood's most accomplished and highly regarded directors. His distinguished career over the past three decades in the motion picture industry serves as a perfect example of what up-and-coming filmmakers should strive to achieve. Mr. Jewison has been personally nominated for four Oscars, and his films have received 45 nominations and 12 Academy Awards. 

Mr. Jewison's exemplary work as a director includes a wide range of films, including Moonstruck, In the Heat of the Night, A Soldier's Story, Fiddler on the Roof, The Cincinnati Kid, The Thomas Crown Affair, Agnes of God, Other People's Money, Rollerball, ...And Justice for All, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!, Best Friends, and Jesus Christ Superstar, among many others. In addition to his Oscar nominations, he has also been nominated for three Best Director awards by the Directors Guild of America, is a Golden Globe Award nominee, and has received many international honors as well. 

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Jewison made his professional debut on the stage at the age of five. He began staging and performing in both dramas and musical comedies at Malvern Collegiate Institute. Shortly thereafter, he left for World War II service with the Royal Canadian Navy. Upon his return in 1946, he enrolled at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in general arts in 1950. 

While driving a cab for a living, Mr. Jewison found occasional work as an actor on the stage and in radio for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After a two-year work/study program with the BBC in London, Mr. Jewison returned to Canada and wrote, directed and produced some of Canada's most popular musicals, dramas, comedy-variety shows and specials for a period of seven years with the CBC. 

In 1958, Mr. Jewison accepted an invitation from CBS in New York to direct the memorable series Your Hit Parade. He followed with The Andy Williams Show, two Harry Belafonte specials, The Fabulous Fifties, Danny Kaye's television debut, The Broadway of Lerner and Lowe and the award-winning Judy Garland specials. Along the way, he collected three Emmy Awards. 

His film debut as a director came with the 1962 comedy 40 Pounds of Trouble, starring Tony Curtis. After The Thrill of It All, Send Me No Flowers and The Art of Love -- three more romantic comedies for Universal -- Mr. Jewison became an independent filmmaker, a move that brought success with his first effort, The Cincinnati Kid. Now acknowledged as a classic, it was co-written and directed by Mr. Jewison and Steve McQueen. 

Since then, Mr. Jewison's films have covered a wide range of subjects and styles, from the sharp pre-glasnost (by 20 years) political satire of The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! and the stylish gamesmanship of The Thomas Crown Affair to the sultry mystery of In the Heat of the Night (winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1967) and the angry irony of ...And Justice For All. 

Mr. Jewison also directed the hit screen version of Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, the futuristic Rollerball and the sweeping political drama F.I.S.T. In 1984, he directed and co-produced the critically acclaimed A Soldier's Story, adapted from Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which was nominated for three Academy Awards. That same year, Mr. Jewison produced Iceman, which was directed by Fred Schepisi on remote Canadian locations. Agnes of God, directed by Mr. Jewison the following year, marked the first feature he filmed in his native country; it was honored with three Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actress nominations for Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft. 

Mr. Jewison's Moonstruck, released in 1987, was a smash success and another multiple Oscar-winner, with star Cher winning Best Actress, Olympia Dukakis Best Supporting Actress and John Patrick Shanley Best Original Screenplay. In 1988, Mr. Jewison produced The January Man, written by Shanley and starring Kevin Kline and Susan Sarandon. 

In 1989, Mr. Jewison directed Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd in In Country, a film which dealt with the painful legacy of the Vietnam War in the American heartland. Other People's Money, starring Danny DeVito and Penelope Ann Miller became Mr. Jewison's 25th film in 28 years. 

In 1994, Mr. Jewison directed Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr. in Only You, a romantic comedy about a woman who travels to Italy in search of her one true love. He also was the executive-producer on Geronimo, a true tale of the last and most feared Apache war chief's dramatic early years. Geronimo was one in a series of original dramas portraying historical events in Native American history filmed for TNT and was cast with all Native American actors. 

The last three years have seen Mr. Jewison busy as both a director and a producer. In 1995, Mr. Jewison executive produced the Sundance favorite Dance Me Outside for director Bruce MacDonald. Also in that year, he and his Yorktown Productions produced the dramatic Showtime series Picture Windows which included segments directed by John Boorman, Norman Jewison, Joe Dante, Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Kaplan. Bogus, directed and produced by Mr. Jewison, starred Gerard Depardieu and Whoopi Goldberg, and was released in 1996. In 1997, Yorktown Productions produced For Richer or Poorer starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley for Universal. 

Mr. Jewison is presently producing and directing a two-hour documentary for the Millennium Twentieth Century Project planned for the Showtime Channel in 1999. This documentary will reflect on the importance of humor and entertainment in America during the last 100 years. 

In 1982, Mr. Jewison was made a companion of the Order of Canada by the Governor-General, the Queen's representative in Ottawa. The order is Canada's highest civilian decoration. 

In November 1986, Mr. Jewison established the Canadian Center for Advanced Film Studies (CCAFS), akin to the American Film Institute in the United States. CCAFS offers selected filmmakers the opportunity to hone their skills to a state-of-the-art level. 

Credit: hollywoodawards.com