Tony Bill, after graduating from Notre Dame with majors in English and Art, began his career in the film industry as an actor. His acting years were distinguished by the quality of the directors who chose him for their films: Bud Yorkin, Sydney Pollock, Terrence Malick, Steven Spielberg, Francis Coppola, Hal Ashby and others, such as Sir Carol Reed, and John Sturges. Despite being hailed by critics as an exciting newcomer, Mr. Bill wanted to become a filmmaker, not a movie star. He made the transition to producer with Deadhead Miles (1971), which he followed with Steelyard Blues (1973). His next feature, The Sting (1973), brought him an Academy Award for Best Picture and won six additional Oscars. It became one of the highest grossing films in history. His other feature production credits include numerous box office and critical successes: Taxi Driver (1976), Hearts of the West (1975), Boulevard Nights (1979) and Going in Style (1979). His directorial debut was the very popular My Bodyguard (1980) followed by Six Weeks (1982), Five Corners (1987), Crazy People (1990), Untamed Heart (1993), and A Home of Our Own (1993). Tony Bill is best known as the consummate independent producer/director with a reputation for discovering new talent. His first film, Deadhead Miles, produced for Paramount in 1971, was the first script by then-unknown writer Terrence Malick. For Steelyard Blues (1973), Tony Bill partnered with Julia and Michael Phillips in backing another discovery, first-time screenwriter David S. Ward. Steelyard Blues was an offbeat sleeper, starring Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda, and Bill/Phillips’ next Ward script was The Sting.Taxi Driver (1976) followed, written by another first-time screenwriter, Paul Schrader. Other discoveries followed: HEARTS OF THE WEST – the first script by its author Rob Thompson; Boulevard Nights – first screenplay by UCLA student Desmond Nakano; Harry and Walter Go to New York – first produced screenplay by John Byrum; Going in Style – first feature directed by Martin Brest; The Little Dragon – first–time writer/director Curtis Hanson. For his own directorial debut My Bodyguard, he also found a new writer, Alan Ormsby; and Five Corners was the first script of John Patrick Shanley. Untamed Heart was no exception to this rule, as it was the first produced screenplay of its author, Tom Sierchio. All were initially optioned outside the studio system with his own money. In television, his directing credits include Truman Capote’s One Christmas, with Katherine Hepburn, Oliver Twist with Richard Dreyfuss, Beyond the Call with Sissy Spacek, and Harlan County War, starring Holly Hunter, who received both EMMY and GOLDEN GLOBE nominations for her performance. He has also directed numerous commercials and several episodes of television series. In 2006, Tony directed Flyboys, a film about the Lafayette Escadrille; the legendary group of young Americans who volunteered to fly in WWI. Produced by Dean Devlin and Marc Freydman, the $60,000,000, independently financed film starred James Franco, Jean Reno and Martin Henderson, and was released by MGM. In 2007, he directed the critically acclaimed Pictures of Hollis Woods for CBS and The Hallmark Hall of Fame, starring Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard and Judith Ivey. Ms. Spacek’s performance was nominated for a Golden Globe and the production earned Tony Bill a Christopher Award, a Camie Award and a Television Academy Honor Award. Since 1974, his Market Street Productions has been called “the closest filmmaking equivalent of an artists’ colony you can find in the movie capitol of the world.” For over three decades, independent writers, producers and directors have filled its offices and post production facilities; the list of tenants is legendary.