Joel Schumacher has become one of America's most vigorous and talented filmmakers. Most recently, he directed the critically acclaimed box-office hit version of John Grisham's novel, THE CLIENT, starring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.

Schumacher's previous features display the filmmaker's versatility and close attention to performance, nuance and atmosphere: ST. ELMO'S FIRE was a popular ensemble drama that made stars of such young players as Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy and Demi Moore; THE LOST BOYS, starring Jason Patric and Keifer Sutherland, successfully combined fantastical imagery, comedy and very contemporary horror; COUSINS was a tender romantic comedy starring Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini and Sean Young; FLATLINERS toplining Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon, was a stylish, surrealistic story of science and spirituality; DYING YOUNG re-united Schumacher and Julia Roberts in an unflinching love story; and FALLING DOWN starring Michael Douglas, was a gritty, controversial and very timely story of social disorder.

Schumacher was born and raised in New York City, where he studied design and display at the Parsons School of Design. After graduation, he opened his own boutique, Paraphernalia, and then joined Revlon as a designer of clothing and packaging.

He began his career in the entertainment industry as an art director for television commercials before becoming costume designer for such notable films as Woody Allen's SLEEPER and INTERIORS, Herbert Ross' THE LAST OF SHEILA and Paul Mazursky's BLUME IN LOVE. He then wrote the screenplays for SPARKLE and the hit comedy CAR WASH.

Schumacher made his directing debut with the television movie THE VIRGINIA HILL STORY, starring Dyan Cannon in the title role and Harvey Keitel as mobster Bugsy Siegel. This was followed by his award-winning telefilm AMATEUR NIGHT AT THE DIXIE BAR AND GRILL. THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN starring Lilly Tomlin, marked his feature-film directing debut, followed by D.C. CAB, for which he also wrote the screenplay. Schumacher also wrote the script for ST. ELMO'S FIRE with Carl Kurlander.