Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman (born October 19, 1977) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer recognized for his independent films that blend sharp satire with character-focused storytelling. The son of director Ivan Reitman, he debuted with the political satire Thank You for Smoking (2005), which he wrote and directed, establishing his reputation for adapting novels into incisive comedies critiquing modern society. Reitman's breakthrough came with Juno (2007), an Academy Award-nominated Best Picture for its portrayal of teenage pregnancy and adoption, followed by Up in the Air (2009), which earned him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, along with a Golden Globe win for the latter category. His oeuvre includes directing Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), a sequel in the franchise originally helmed by his father, and the 2024 ensemble drama Saturday Night, chronicling the frenzied launch of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, for which he received the Astor Piazzolla Award for Best Screenplay at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. Reitman has accumulated four Academy Award nominations across his career, often collaborating with actors like George Clooney and Charlize Theron in explorations of personal disconnection amid corporate and cultural pressures.

Jason Reitman was born on October 19, 1977, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to director and producer Ivan Reitman and actress Geneviève Robert. His father, born October 27, 1946, in Komárno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), came from Slovak Jewish parents; his paternal grandmother survived Auschwitz, while his grandfather escaped a concentration camp to fight with the Slovak resistance. Ivan Reitman immigrated to Canada in 1950, initially settling in Toronto before establishing a career in Montreal's film scene. Reitman's mother, of French-Canadian descent and originally from a Christian background, converted to Judaism after marrying Ivan. He has two younger sisters: Catherine Reitman, an actress and producer born around 1980, and Caroline Reitman, a nurse born around 1989.