Quick Facts
Biography
Roger Kumble (born May 28, 1966) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.
Biography
Kumble was raised in Harrison, New York and attended Harrison High School. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988, where he wrote for the "Waa Mu" show. He began his career as a playwright and director in 1993 with the Hollywood satire "Pay or Play", which garnered him the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Comic Writing. His second play, 1997’s "d girl", starring David Schwimmer, earned him four Dramalogue Awards. In 2003, Kumble completed his Hollywood trilogy with the critically acclaimed "Turnaround", again starring David Schwimmer, which sold out its entire run in Los Angeles.
Kumble made his feature-film-directorial debut with 1999’s Sony Pictures box-office hit, Cruel Intentions, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair; his screenplay transposed the French classic to modern New York.
He followed with the Sony Pictures comedy The Sweetest Thing, starring Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Jason Bateman and Thomas Jane, and New Line Cinema’s Just Friends, starring Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Amy Smart. Both Sweetest Thing and Just Friends were voted two of the top twenty underrated films of the decade by the New York Post.
He also directed Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symoné and Donny Osmond in Disney’s successful family-comedy College Road Trip. His next film, Furry Vengeance, starring Brendan Fraser and Brooke Shields, was released in April 2010.
Most recently, he has directed episodes of the television series Entourage, Pretty Little Liars, Revenge and Ringer starring Cruel Intentions actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Thomas.
Family
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mary and three young children.
Filmography as writer
- Unveiled (1994)
- Senior Trip (1995)
- Provocateur (1998)
- Cruel Intentions (1999)
- Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)
Filmography as director
- Cruel Intentions (1999)
- Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)
- The Sweetest Thing (2002)
- Just Friends (2005)
- College Road Trip (2008)
- Furry Vengeance (2010)
Theater Productions
- "Pay or Play" (1993- Hudson Theater, Los Angeles)
- "d girl" (also directed by Kumble) (1997-Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles)
- "Turnaround" (2003-Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles)
- "Girls Talk" (2011-Lee Strasberg Theater - Los Angeles)
Awards
L.A. Weekly Award Best Comic Writing "Pay or Play" 1993