Early life

Ratner was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Marsha Pratts (remarried), a socialite, and Ronald Ratner. He grew up in a "middle-class Jewish family". His father was the son of a wealthy Miami businessman. His mother was born in Cuba, and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her parents, Fanita and Mario Presman (their families had originally moved to Cuba from Eastern Europe). Ratner's mother was sixteen when he was born. Ratner told Aventura Business Monthly in a May, 2011, cover story interview that he "really didn't know" his biological father, and that he considers Alvin Malnik, who opened the famous Forge restaurant in Miami Beach, to be his dad, "the one who raised" him. Ratner's biological father was chronically homeless in Miami Beach, a situation which inspired the adult Brett to become the director and board member of the nationwide nonprofit organization Chrysalis, which helps the homeless find work.

Ratner attended Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy elementary school and attended a high school in Israel and graduated in 1986 from Miami Beach Senior High School. He is a 1990 graduate of New York University. In 2010, he cited the 1980 boxing film Raging Bull as his inspiration to enter the world of film.

Career

Directing

Ratner had directed several music videos and one film, the 1997 action comedy Money Talks, before reaching commercial success with the action-comedy Rush Hour (1998), starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, both of whom reunited with Ratner for two sequels, Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2007). Ratner was under consideration to direct X-Men (2000) and Superman Returns (2006), although both were eventually directed by Bryan Singer. After Singer left the X-Men franchise to direct Superman Returns, Ratner became director of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Super Bowl XXXIX, Ratner directed a Super Bowl ad for Wynn Las Vegas featuring Wynn Resorts Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO and Legendary Casino Mogul; Steve Wynn. Wynn stood on top of Wynn Las Vegas for the commercial as he introduced the property.

In May 2008, it was announced that Ratner would be directing the long in-development Beverly Hills Cop IV, which was confirmed on December 6, 2013. He also edited the English version of the film Kites, starring Indian superstar Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Bárbara Mori using techniques developed in the critically acclaimed series Kung Faux.

Ratner directed and served as an executive producer on the 2011 CBS comedy-drama television series CHAOS. In the same year, Ratner also directed the ensemble comedy caper Tower Heist.

In May 2011, it was announced that Ratner signed on to direct The 39 Clues, the live-action adaptation of the young-adult book series.

Screen appearances

Ratner was seen on MTV series Punk'd when Hugh Jackman, who portrays Wolverine in the X-Men films, was the subject of a practical joke that made it appear Ratner's $3.6 million home in Beverly Hills was destroyed by a BBQ grill explosion. Ashton Kutcher later arrived at his home and hugged him after Jackman was punk'd.

On April 25, 2007, Fox Broadcasting announced that he, Carrie Fisher, Garry Marshall and Jon Avnet would be the judges for the network's filmmaking-competition, reality TV series, On the Lot, which premiered to low ratings in May 2007.

He also appeared as himself in Entourage, in an episode that was shot at his actual Beverly Hills home, according to an interview he did in Aventura Business Monthly, and in the film Black and White.

Publishing

His publishing company, Rat Press, is re-releasing out of print books about Hollywood. The first three books, released on March 25, 2009, are about Marlon Brando, Robert Evans and Jim Brown. Brett Ratner also created his own magazine titled "Ratmag" through celebrity magazine publisher MYMAG.

Producing

Ratner produced a remake of Snow White, Mirror Mirror (2012), based on the screenplay The Brothers Grimm: Snow White by Melisa Wallack.

Ratner has produced feature films, TV series, and documentaries. He executive produced the 2010 documentary film, Catfish and the 2011 TV documentary, American Masters: WoodyAllen - A Documentary. Ratner also produced Skyline (2010) and Horrible Bosses (2011).

In December 2012, Ratner and Australian media mogul James Packer formed a joint venture, RatPac Entertainment. The firm will produce independent films and co-produce big-budget films with a major studio. RatPac and Dune Entertainment formed a film investment vehicle, which in September 2013, entered a multi-year, 75-film co-financing partnership with Warner Bros.

In June 2014, Ratner's RatPac Entertainment and Class 5 Films acquired the movie rights to the non-fiction article American Hippopotamus, by Jon Mooallem, about the meat shortage in the U.S. in 1910 and the attempts made by Major Frederick Russell Burnham, Captain Fritz Joubert Duquesne and Congressman Robert Broussard to import hippopotamuses into the Louisiana bayous and to convince Americans to eat them. The movie will highlight the Burnham - Duquesne rivalry, two famous spies who had previously been under orders to assassinate each other. Ranter, Edward Norton, and William Migliore will produce this feature film.

Ratner will executive-produce the Rush Hour tv series.

Academy Awards

On August 4, 2011, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Ratner would produce the 84th Academy Awards with Don Mischer. However, Ratner resigned on November 8, 2011 after remarking that "rehearsal is for fags" and making disparaging remarks about actress Olivia Munn a few days earlier. Ratner later apologized for his remarks. Eddie Murphy, who was scheduled to host the ceremony, also resigned in deference to a new production team. Ratner was replaced by Brian Grazer, and Murphy was replaced by previous Oscar host Billy Crystal.

Works

Film and television

Year	Film	Type	Notes
1990	Whatever Happened to Mason Reese	Short film	Director/Producer/Writer
1997	Money Talks	Feature film	Director
1998	Rush Hour		Director
2000	The Family Man		Director
2001	Rush Hour 2		Director
2002	Red Dragon		Director
2004	After the Sunset		Director
2005	Prison Break (Pilot episode)	TV series	Director
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Feature film	Director
	Becker Hargrove, Inc.	Short film	Producer
2007	Entourage	TV Series	Cameo: S.3 Ep. 19
2007	Rush Hour 3	Feature film	Director
2008	21		Producer
2009	New York, I Love You		Director
2010	Kites: The Remix		Producer/Editor
	Skyline		Producer
2011	Tower Heist		Director
	Horrible Bosses		Producer
	Mother's Day
2012	Mirror Mirror		Producer
2013	Movie 43		Director of one segment
2014	Jersey Boys		Executive Producer
	Hercules		Director/Producer
	Horrible Bosses 2		Producer
2015	The Revenant		Executive Producer
2016	True Crimes		Producer

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Notes
1987	"Christmas in Hollis"	Run-D.M.C.	Director
1993	"Rat Bastard"	Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich	Director
	"Kick the Bobo"	Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich	Director
	"Stay Real"	Erick Sermon	Director
	"Tonight's da Night"	Redman	Director
	"Pink Cookies In a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings"	LL Cool J	Director
1994	"Nuttin' But Love"	Heavy D and the Boyz	Director
	"I'll Take Her"	Ill Al Skratch featuring Brian McKnight	Director
1995	"Freek'n You"	Jodeci	Director
	"Every Little Thing I Do"	Soul for Real	Director
	"Brown Sugar"	D'Angelo	Director
	"Who Do U Love"	Deborah Cox	Director
	"Sex Wit You"	Heavy D. and The Boyz	Director
	"Love U 4 Life"	Jodeci	Director
	"Cruisin'"	D'Angelo	Director
	"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"	Mary J. Blige	Director
1996	"Lady (DJ Premier Remix)"	D'Angelo featuring AZ	Director
1997	"Triumph"	Wu-Tang Clan	Director
1998	"I Still Believe"	Mariah Carey	Director
1999	"Beautiful Stranger"	Madonna	Director
	"Heartbreaker"	Mariah Carey	Director
2000	"Thank God I Found You"	Mariah Carey	Director
2001	"Diddy"	P. Diddy	Director
2005	"It's Like That"	Mariah Carey	Director
	"We Belong Together"	Mariah Carey	Director
	"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"	Jessica Simpson	Director
2006	"Make Them Suffer"	Cannibal Corpse	Director
	"A Public Affair"	Jessica Simpson	Director
	"Samantha"	Courtney Love	Director
2008	"7 Things"	Miley Cyrus	Director
	"Touch My Body"	Mariah Carey	Director
	"Just Like Me"	Jamie Foxx	Director
2009	"Obsessed"	Mariah Carey	Director
	"H.A.T.E.U."	Mariah Carey	Director
2011	"Mrs. Right"	Mindless Behavior	Director
2015	"Infinity"	Mariah Carey	Director

Reception

Ratner's films have received generally mixed reviews.

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
Money Talks	16%	N/A
Rush Hour	61%	60
The Family Man	53%	42
Rush Hour 2	52%	48
Red Dragon	69%	60
After the Sunset	18%	38
X-Men: The Last Stand	58%	58
Rush Hour 3	18%	44
New York, I Love You (Brett Ratner segment)	35%	49
Tower Heist	69%	59
Movie 43 ("Happy Birthday" segment)	4%	18
Hercules	62%	47
Average	43%	47

Charities

Brett Ratner supports the following charitable causes: Homeless, Children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]