Michael Bay(I)
- Producer
- Director
- Actor
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on
advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school
were in the music video business. He created music videos for
Tina Turner,
Meat Loaf,
Lionel Richie,
Wilson Phillips,
Donny Osmond and
Divinyls. His work won him recognition
and a number of MTV award nominations. He also filmed advertisements
for Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Miller Lite. He won the
Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron
Burr" commercial. At Cannes, he has won the Gold Lion for The Best Beer
campaign for Miller Lite, as well as the Silver for "Got Milk". In
1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial
Director of the Year. That same year, he also directed his first
feature film, Bad Boys : Flics de choc (1995), starring
Will Smith and
Martin Lawrence, which grossed
more than $160 million, worldwide. His follow-up film,
Rock (1996), starring
Sean Connery and
Nicolas Cage, was also hugely successful,
making Bay the director du jour.
