Next person biography:
Matty Rich, a renowned producer, writer, director, and actor, hails from the Red Hook housing projects in Brooklyn, New York. As a pioneer in the Black Filmmakers community, Rich made his mark in the early 1990s at the age of 19 with his award-winning film, "Straight Out of Brooklyn". The film, which was made on a budget of $77,000, won several prestigious awards, including the Sundance Film Festival Award, Independent Spirit Award, NAACP Image Award, CEBA Award, Big Apple Award, Producer's Guild "Most Promising Film Producer" award, and the Nova Award.
Rich's success led to a three-picture deal with Tri Star studios, where he developed the first Black organized crime family film "Forty Thieves" and "Sunset Park" starring Danny and other notable actors. He then moved on to Disney studios, where he was given a three-picture deal from studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg. Rich directed the summer blockbuster "The Inkwell!" for Touchstone Pictures, featuring a star-studded cast including Jada Pinkett-Smith, Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, and Morris Chestnut.
After the success of "The Inkwell!", Rich developed and produced several television and film projects, including the drama series "Red Hook" for Warner Brothers TV/Fox Network, the Tupac Shakur bio picture project for HBO, and "Subway Scholar" with Whitney Houston as producer for Showtime Networks. He also produced and directed the boxing documentary pieces "Tommy Morris vs Ray Mercer" for HBO pay per view, wrote the feature film screenplay "Free At Last" for the Weinstein Company and Edmonds Entertainment, and created the variety show "The Kool Moe Dee" for Buena Vista/Disney television.
Rich's work in the gaming industry began when he served as Creative Director and Artistic Director for the video game "187 Ride or Die" in Paris, France. He led a team of over 100 artists, game designers, and programmers and wrote/directed the 3D animation game cinematics, overseeing an animation team in Hong Kong, China. After the release of "187 Ride or Die", Rich formed Matty Rich Games, a Los Angeles-based gaming development company that creates games for Apple and Android mobile phones and tablets.
Rich is now developing film and television properties that will also feature games under his Matty Rich Games brand. He has been a featured speaker at Hollywood's most prominent video game conferences, including the Ayzenberg A-List Gaming Summit (2011-2013),Variety Magazine's 3D Entertainment Summit (2011-2013),and Variety Magazine's 3D Gaming Summit (2010-2013).
