P.j. Pesce


Biography

American director P.J. Pesce has built a career on crafting action-packed television and film productions. After graduating from Columbia University, he enrolled at the Graduate Film School, where he studied under heralded American auteurs Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. After drawing notice with his award-winning short film "The Afterlife of Grandpa," he made the leap to full-length...

Biography

American director P.J. Pesce has built a career on crafting action-packed television and film productions. After graduating from Columbia University, he enrolled at the Graduate Film School, where he studied under heralded American auteurs Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. After drawing notice with his award-winning short film "The Afterlife of Grandpa," he made the leap to full-length features with the forgettable sex comedy "Body Waves" in 1992. Three years later, Pesce won praise for his Western "The Desperate Trail" as well as the award for Best Director from the Hamptons International Film Festival. This feature marked the start of his collaboration with screenwriter Tom Abrams. The two would go on to work together on some of Pesce's biggest productions, including the final installment of the Quentin Tarantino-spawned vampire trilogy, "From Dusk till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter," and the hitman-packed action-thriller "Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball." While much of Pesce's career has been spent in film, he has made the occasional foray into television, directing episodes of the detective drama "Profiler" and the man-eating mega-worm action comedy series "Tremors." In 2003, Pesce teamed up with comedian Orlando Jones to create the variety program "The Orlando Jones Show," which featured a quirky animated cartoon about two janitors with big dreams that later morphed into its own show, "The Adventures of Chico and Guapo." However, neither series lasted beyond eight episodes. So, Pesce returned to moviemaking in 2008, helming the sequel to the cult classic vampire drama "The Lost Boys," "Lost Boys: The Tribe."

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