Garth Drabinsky (born 1949) is a Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. The sentence was reduced from 7 to 5 years in prison, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a subsequent appeal. Film and theatrical career Film Born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario, Drabinsky graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1973, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1975. Entering into the entertainment business in 1978 as an independent commercial film producer (through Tiberius Entertainment Limited, formed with Joel Michaels) and film distributor (through Pan-Canadian Film Distributors Inc., formed with Nat Taylor), he was credited as the producer for: The Disappearance (1977) The Silent Partner (1978) The Changeling (1980) Tribute (1980) The Amateur (1981) Losin' It (1983) The Gospel of John (2003) Half Light (2004) Barrymore (2011) In April 1979, he and Nat Taylor co-founded Cineplex Theatres, which created a chain of multiplex theatres for the Canadian market. By May 1984, it had acquired the Canadian Odeon Theatre chain, thus becoming Cineplex Odeon and a major player in the industry. It expanded further through the acquisition of several US theatre chains, but he left the company in December 1989. Theatre He leveraged his ownership of the Pantages Theatre in Toronto to form the publicly traded theatre production company, Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, Inc., also known as Livent. The company expanded, building or refurbishing several theatres, including the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, and entered into management deals with others in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York. It became noted for its productions (which earned a total of 20 Tony Awards out of a total of 71 nominations) of: Phantom of the Opera (1989 Canadian production) Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1992 Canadian production) Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992 Canadian production)* Show Boat (1993 Canadian production)** Ragtime, (1996 original production) Sunset Boulevard (1995 Canadian production) Fosse (1999 Broadway production)* Paradise Square (2022 Broadway production) Tony Award for Best Musical, ** Tony Award for Best Musical Revival After Livent Beginning in 2002, Drabinsky dabbled for a few years with the Toronto-based film production and direct marketing company, Visual Bible International Inc. (OTCBB: VBII). Although he and Livent co-founder Myron Gottlieb were both purported to be