Lawrence Bender

Tired of waiting for his big break, this former struggling actor-dancer segued into producing, making an auspicious theatrical debut with Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992). Bender began his producing career after appearing in bit parts and working on production crews for three years, beginning with student projects at the American Film Institute. He entered commercial features as a grip on low-budget genre fare. His first producing credits were on the direct-to-video horror tale "The Intruder" and the little-seen improvisational drama "A Tale of Two Sisters" (both 1989).

Bender is now an A-list film producer who has a career that spans three decades of producing highly successful films with worldwide box office cum of over a billion dollars. His films to date, including such hits as Inglorious Bastards, Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting, have been honored with 36 Academy Award nominations, including three for Best Picture, and have won 9. His film An Inconvenient Truth, which raised unprecedented awareness about climate change, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Lawrence is also a political and environmental activist as the co-founder of the Detroit Project. In 2003 he worked with environmentalists in targeting gas-guzzling SUVs. As the Dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, he sits on the Advisory Board. Lawrence has used his influence to support philanthropic initiatives working with Yahoo, the Muppets, the EPA, and Wal-Mart. He is a Director for CleanSource Power, LLC and a board member of The Creative Coalition Inc.