Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer and writer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated for four Academy Awards for Splash (1984), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Frost/Nixon (2008). His films and TV series have been nominated for 47 Academy Awards and 217 Emmy Awards. In 2002, Grazer won an Oscar for Best Picture for A Beautiful Mind (shared with Ron Howard). In 2007, he was named one of Times "100 Most Influential People in the World". Early life Grazer was born in Los Angeles, California, to Arlene Becker Grazer and criminal defense attorney Thomas Grazer. He is the older brother of Nora Beth Grazer (born 1952) and actor/director Gavin Grazer (born 1961). He was raised in Sherman Oaks and Northridge, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. Grazer's father was Catholic and his mother is Jewish. His parents divorced when he was in high school. Grazer said "My best buddy, the most important person in my growing up, was my little 4-foot-10 [147 cm] Jewish grandmother, and she'd say, 'In order to get it, you got to do it. No one's going to get it for you, Brian.'" While in school, Grazer struggled with dyslexia. Grazer got through school by reading other students' papers and arguing his grades with his teachers. His nephew is actor Jack Dylan Grazer. Education Grazer won a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC) as a psychology major. He graduated from USC's School of Cinema-Television in 1974. He then attended USC Law School for one year, but quit in 1975 to pursue a life in Hollywood. Career Grazer began his career as a producer developing television projects. While executive-producing TV pilots at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, he met current long-time friend and business partner Ron Howard. He produced his first feature-film, Night Shift, in 1982, directed by Howard. Grazer and Howard teamed up again for Splash in 1984, which Grazer produced and co-wrote. Splash earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1984. Grazer went on to become an independent producer, teaming up with Tri-Star Pictures to set up plans for a film to star Richard Pryor, and had a continuing relationship with The Walt Disney Studios, and has plans to develop projects for