Biographie
Jeff Baron grew up in suburban New Jersey, the son of a secretary and a clothing salesman. The first in his family to go to college, Jeff got a film degree from Northwestern University, where his comedy writing and lyrics were frequently performed on and off campus.
He worked for the skiing trade association for a few years, then got an MBA from Harvard Business School. During his two years at Coca-Cola, Jeff managed the creation and introduction of Ramblin' Root Beer. He left to become a Marketing Director for Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company, which became MTV Networks. He left the corporate world when his Dad became seriously ill, while Jeff was still in his 20's.
After his Dad passed away, Jeff wrote, directed and hosted a weekly comedy/reality cable TV series, The Jeff Baron Show. At the same time, he wrote his first screenplay, which was optioned by Marcia Nasatir (The Big Chill, Ironweed). Jeff's other original screenplays were optioned by David Brown (Jaws, The Sting, The Player) and Disney.
He wrote episodes of a wide variety of TV series, including The Tracey Ullman Show (Fox), Almost Grown (CBS - David Chase), Sisters (NBC), A Year in the Life (NBC), Aaron's Way (NBC) and the Disney Sunday Movie (ABC). He wrote and produced several projects for Nickelodeon. He had series development deals with TriStar (now Sony), 20th Century Fox, Nickelodeon and Dick Clark Productions.
During this period, Jeff wrote and directed The Bruce Diet, an award winning 25 minute comedy-horror film, selected for film festivals around the world.
Jeff's first play, Visiting Mr. Green, starred Eli Wallach,. The play ran for a full year in New York and went on to become one of the world's most-performed plays, with 600 productions in 26 languages in 52 countries. Its numerous awards include Best Play in Greece, Germany, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and the Kulturpreis Europa.
Eli Wallach was the first of a long list of the world's great actors who have played Mr. Green. Other include Warren Mitchell (London, Sydney) Paulo Autran (Brazil), Corrado Pani (Italy), Pepe Soriano (Argentina, Uruguay), Yossi Graber (Israel), Fritz Muliar (Vienna), Pero Kvrgic (Croatia), Philippe Clay (Paris), John Kraaijkamp (The Netherlands), and Stanislav Zindulka (Czech Republic).
Jeff's more recent plays, Mother's Day, So This is My Family - Mr. Green Part 2, Brothers-in-Law, What Goes Around, and When I Was Five, have originated in the U.S., Australia, South America Europe and India.
His speaking appearances include the United Nations, Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano, Columbia University, New School, Emory University, Harvard University and Northwestern University.
His journalism and short fiction have been published in the U.S., France and Canada. He was commissioned to write two short operas, one of which, Song of Martina (Navratilova) had its premiere at Carnegie Hall.
His novels I Represent Sean Rosen and Sean Rosen Is Not for Sale were published by HarperCollins.
