Shawn Levy

Biography

Shawn Levy established himself in the early 2000s as a go-to director for major studio comedy features, most notably the big-budget comic adventures "Night at the Museum" (2006) and "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (2009).

The Canadian-born Levy broke into show business in the late 1980s as an actor with occasional television guest star roles but would go on to make a bigger name producing and directing light kiddie fare, including stewarding the Disney Channel hit, "The Famous Jett Jackson" (1998-2001), before eventually graduating to network primetime as executive producer of the short-lived Rebecca Romjin series, "Pepper Dennis" (2006).

In the meantime, he developed a rep as a workmanlike helmsman of family films, often working in tandem with producer Robert Simonds on films like the two Steve Martin vehicles, "Cheaper by the Dozen" (2003) and "The Pink Panther" (2006).

Though never a critical darling, Levy watched the box-office receipts of his movies increasingly outweigh his less auspicious notices; most markedly with the "Night at the Museum" franchise, which collectively went on to gross nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

By the end of the millennium's first decade, Levy had made a name for himself as a staple creator of Hollywood's lighter blockbuster fare, commanding some of the top budgets for comedic productions in the business.