Biography
Tom Rothman serves as Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group, overseeing the studio's global motion picture operations, including Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Pictures International Productions, AFFIRM Films, and Sony Pictures Classics. The company operates in over forty countries worldwide.
Rothman joined Sony Pictures in 2013 as Chairman of TriStar Pictures and was promoted to Chairman of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group in February 2015. He has since led a comprehensive turnaround of the motion picture business, restoring strong profitability. His strategy focuses on a global outlook, investing in major intellectual properties and franchises, while supporting original works by notable filmmakers. He has revitalized and launched several franchises such as Spider-Man, Venom, and Uncharted, and new entries in Jumanji, Ghostbusters, Insidious, Don't Breathe, Peter Rabbit, Zombieland, Baby Driver, and Bad Boys. Rothman has attracted top directors and producers to the studio, including Greta Gerwig, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Jon Watts, Jason Reitman, Ang Lee, Denzel Washington, David Leitch, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jamie Foxx.
Under his leadership, the motion picture group achieved some of its most profitable years, notably in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020. Powered by blockbusters like Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Bad Boys for Life, fiscal year 2020 (April 2019 - March 2020) marked the studio's best decade in both profitability and operating income. That year, Sony Pictures earned 20 Academy Award® nominations, including two for Best Picture. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019) grossed $373 million worldwide and received 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, underscoring the importance of original filmmaking in Rothman's strategy. Little Women (2019) earned $219 million globally and garnered six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. In 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home became Sony Pictures' highest-grossing film ever with $1.13 billion worldwide. Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) pushed the franchise’s global total past $1.7 billion, demonstrating the strength of Sony Pictures’ library. Bad Boys for Life (2020) was the highest-grossing domestic film of the year and the franchise’s biggest hit, with $430 million worldwide, leading Sony Pictures to the top market share in North America for 2020.
Other major box office successes during Rothman’s tenure include Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), which set a record as the highest-grossing Columbia-owned film in the studio’s 100-year history, later surpassed by Spider-Man: Far From Home. In 2018, Venom earned over $850 million globally and launched Sony Pictures’ own Marvel Universe. Hotel Transylvania: Summer Vacation became the studio’s highest-grossing animated film worldwide with $528 million. Also in 2018, the groundbreaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, marking Sony Pictures Animation’s first Oscar win and ending a six-year Disney winning streak in that category.
Before joining Sony, Rothman was Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment (FFE) from 2000 to 2012. He departed in January 2013 after overseeing the company’s most profitable decade and its reorganization into 21st Century Fox following its split from News Corporation. He managed one of the largest global producers and distributors of film and television content, including Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Searchlight (which he founded in 1994 and which has won three Best Picture Oscars), Blue Sky Animation, and Twentieth Century Fox Television. Rothman’s overall tenure at Fox lasted more than eighteen years, longer than any creative head in the studio’s history except Darryl Zanuck. He also served as President of Twentieth Century Fox Film Group, President of Production for Twentieth Century Fox, and President of Fox Searchlight.
Among the many enduring Fox films overseen by Rothman are Lincoln, Life of Pi, Descendants, Cast Away, Master and Commander, Black Swan, Walk the Line, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty, The Devil Wears Prada, Borat, the X-Men series, Marley and Me, Little Miss Sunshine, Minority Report, Moulin Rouge, Boys Don’t Cry, Man on Fire, Sideways, Waiting to Exhale, the Ice Age series, The Simpsons Movie, Something About Mary, The Crucible, and the two then highest-grossing films of all time: Titanic and Avatar. During his leadership, Fox films received over 150 Academy Award® nominations, won three Best Picture Oscars, and grossed over $40 billion worldwide. Hit TV series from Twentieth Century Fox Television included Modern Family, Glee, and Homeland. Under Rothman’s guidance, all four major film production divisions at the company were led by women, each mentored through the ranks at Fox.
From 2007 to 2012, Rothman wrote and hosted the television series "Fox Legacy," featuring nearly fifty essays on classic film history, which received favorable reviews, including from The New York Times. He also contributed to The Movie Business Book, edited by Jason E. Squire, a widely used reference in film schools.
Prior to Fox, Rothman was President of Worldwide Production at the Samuel Goldwyn Company, where he oversaw films such as Henry V, Longtime Companion, Truly Madly Deeply, Much Ado About Nothing, Wild at Heart, Eat Drink Man Woman, The Wedding Banquet, and The Madness of King George. He discovered and supported many filmmakers who achieved international acclaim, including Ang Lee, Anthony Minghella, and Kenneth Branagh. During his tenure, the company’s films won the Palme d’Or at Cannes three times.
Rothman joined Goldwyn in 1989 after serving as Executive Vice President at Columbia Pictures under David Puttnam and Dawn Steel. Before Columbia, he was a partner at the New York entertainment law firm Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz, representing major figures across publishing, theatre, film, television, music, dance, and photography, including independent filmmakers like Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch. In 1986, he co-produced Robert Frank’s Candy Mountain and Jarmusch’s Down By Law, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
He began his career as an English teacher and soccer and lacrosse coach at the Salisbury School in Connecticut and later worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.
Rothman graduated from Brown University in 1976 with honors in English and American Literature, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and was an All-New England Division I Lacrosse selection. He earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1980, where he was a two-time James Kent Scholar, the school’s highest academic honor.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Booking Holdings Inc., the world’s largest online travel agency and parent company of Priceline, Booking.com, OpenTable, and Agoda.
Rothman has received numerous awards, including lifetime achievement honors from the Producers Guild of America, IFP East, and the Academy of Science Fiction Films. He has been recognized as Showman of the Year by Variety and the Publicists Guild, received the Arthur B. Krim Award for outstanding leadership in entertainment from Columbia University, and was presented with the Corwin Award for Human Relations by the American Jewish Committee.
In 2015, President Obama appointed Rothman to the National Council on the Arts, and the Senate confirmed him. The Council advises on National Endowment for the Arts policies and programs and makes grant recommendations.
A long-standing member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rothman is active in nonprofit arts and education initiatives. Besides his work with the NEA, he serves on the board of the California Institute of the Arts, is an emeritus member of Brown University’s Corporation, and has served over 20 years on the Sundance Institute Board. He has worked as a teacher and fundraiser for Mentor L.A. Partner Schools, which honored him for his dedication to public education, and has been a major supporter of the Fulfillment Fund, which recognized him at its STARS benefit. Rothman is involved in various civic and philanthropic activities, including fundraising for The Jewish Home for the Aging, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (which honored him at its Dinner of Champions), PXE International, and Harlem Lacrosse.
He is married to Jessica Harper, a versatile actress (known for Stardust Memories, Suspiria, Phantom of the Paradise, My Favorite Year, Minority Report, and See), singer/songwriter (Nora’s Room), and author (The Crabby Cook and numerous children’s books). They have two daughters. An avid sports fan, Rothman enjoys skiing, tennis, golf, and participates regularly in basketball games. Raised in Baltimore, he remains a devoted fan of the city, affectionately calling people “hun,” rooting for the Orioles and the Ravens, and passionately supporting lacrosse. In 2013, Brown University named its Coaching Chair in lacrosse in his honor, humorously affirming his playing career despite his wife’s quip: “the older you get, the better you were.”
