Biography for
Bryan Singer More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

17 September 1965, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Bryan Jay Singer

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Trade Mark

Frequently uses music by John Ottman.

Often works with cinematographer Tom Siegel.

Recurring theme of alienation in his films.

Trivia

Singer attended the 2000 Comic Con in San Diego in a surprise appearance promoting his new movie, X-Men (2000). [July 2000]

Graduated from USC cinema school. [1989]

His production company, Bad Hat Harry Productions, is named after a line in Jaws (1975), one of his favorite movies.

Graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in New Jersey.

Childhood friends with actor Ethan Hawke.

Met composer/editor/director John Ottman at USC School of Cinema-Television.

Attended The School of Visual Arts in New York City for a brief period of time but did not graduate from there. Visited the school in October 2000 to talk to the film students about his experiences in the film industry.

Cousin of actors Marc Singer and Lori Singer.

His favourite movie is Jaws (1975).

Received a copy of the mockumentary Forgotten Silver (1995) (TV) as a gift from director Peter Jackson, to thank him for finishing Ian McKellen's scenes in X-Men (2000) in time for him to fly to New Zealand and begin work on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Is a big Star Trek fan and had a cameo appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) as a crewman on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Ranked #46 on Premiere's 2006 "Power 50" list. It is his first appearance on the list.

DC Comics offered Singer access to the 20-plus years of development information that Superman has had since 1986, but Singer vehemently refused to use this information, instead insisting that he use only the continuity of the Richard Donner films.

Best friends with director Gary Goddard.

Turned down the chance to direct X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), as he was too busy with other projects.

Personal Quotes

[About Superman's costume for Superman Returns (2006)]: "I always had the general idea of the suit. With X-Men, although they had extraordinary powers, they also had physical weaknesses. The suits were for protection as well as costume. Superman is the Man of Steel. Bullets bounce off him, not the suit."

[Talking about casting Brandon Routh as Superman/Clark Kent in the new Superman film]: "I was always dead set on casting an unknown. Brandon embodied the character the best -- his acting talent, physical presence and personality."

Superman has always been about Lois Lane, Superman and Clark Kent and this love triangle between these three people who really are only two people.

I identify with Superman. I am adopted, I am an only child, and I love the idea that he comes from another world, that he's the ultimate immigrant. He has all these extraordinary powers, and he has a righteousness about him.

There's no point in making films unless you intend to show us something special, otherwise just go out and watch a play. Kubrick showed us something special. Every film was a challenge, and a direct assault on cinema's conventions.

On Tom Cruise: If you look at Tom's work, there's a lot of very strange characters. People very often leap right to the Mission: Impossible and the Top Gun roles when they think of him. But he started as a character actor in Taps (1981) - nobody really thought of him as a leading man until Risky Business (1983). And then after Top Gun he was a superstar. But look, there's Rain Man (1988), where he pays a real prick. And he played the hitman in Collateral (2004). He really is interested in playing challenging roles; he's a terrific actor. I really think he's an actor who happens to be a movie star.

Where Are They Now

(April 2004) With X2 scribes Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, set to write 12 issues of "Ultimate X-Men" for Marvel Comics.

(October 2005) Currently in Australia filming Superman Returns (2006) for Warner Brothers.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z