On Thursday, April 11, 2019, film producer Michael Tadross gave a master class for students in Wagner College’s Film & Media Studies program. Tadross is a 1972 graduate of Wagner College.
Michael Tadross has played a pivotal role as a leading figure in the film industry for the last 30 years. He has most recently produced “Ocean’s Eight,” a Warner Bros. film starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna. Other Warner Bros. films Tadross has produced include “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law; “Run All Night,” starring Liam Neeson; “Cop Out,” starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan; “Winter’s Tale,” starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe; “Arthur,” starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren and Greta Gerwig; and “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith, one of the highest-budgeted science fiction movies to be entirely filmed in New York City. Earlier in his career, for Warner Bros., he produced “The Devil’s Advocate,” with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves; “Jack Frost,” starring Michael Keaton; and “Eraser,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams and James Caan.
Tadross’s producing credits also include “Hitch” for Columbia Pictures, with Will Smith and Kevin James; “Basic” for Columbia Pictures, with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson; “Rollerball” for M.G.M., with Chris Klein, L.L. Cool J and Jean Reno; “The Thomas Crown Affair” for M.G.M., with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo; “Indecent Proposal” for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Redford and Demi Moore; “School Ties” for Paramount Pictures, with Brendan Frazier, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck; “Brenda Starr” for Sony Pictures, with Brooke Shields and Timothy Dalton; and “Die Hard: With A Vengeance” for 20th Century Fox, with Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson, the highest grossing worldwide film of 1995.
During his tenure as executive vice president of feature production at Paramount Pictures, Tadross oversaw such blockbusters as “Forrest Gump,” “Naked Gun 33⅓,” “The Firm,” “Clear and Present Danger,” the Wayne's World franchise, “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” “Beverly Hills Cop III,” “Coneheads” and “Sliver,” to name just a few.
Tadross’s made-for-television producing credits include “When Will I Be Loved?” for CBS, with Stephanie Powers; and “Deadly Illusion” for Columbia Television, with Billy Dee Williams.
He was unit production manager for “Ghost,” “Coming To America,” “Black Rain,” “Trading Places” and “Death Wish III,” and was first assistant director on “Cocktail” with Tom Cruise and “Masquerade” with Rob Lowe, also to name only a few. He’s also been awarded one gold and two platinum records for movie soundtrack albums.
Tadross is currently producing a new Sesame Street movie, to be shot in New York City beginning July 22.
Michael Tadross began his film career as a camera trainee and assistant film editor. He is now a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
He was nominated for the NAACP Image Award, and he received the Movie Guide Award for best family-oriented film of 2006 (“Hitch”). He is cited in the Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals.
Michael Tadross was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with an art degree from Wagner College in 1972, and was later given a Distinguished Graduate Award. In 2018, Long Island University gave him an honorary doctor of fine arts degree. Tadross has served on the boards of Victory Memorial Hospital and Wagner College. Tadross is a member of the Honor Legion of the New York Police Department. He was given the Florida State Achievement Award and the Nevada Governor’s Appreciation Award. The City of Yonkers once declared June 12 to be Michael Tadross Day, and he has been given the key to more than eight cities.
— Career biography written by Charbel Youssef for the Internet Media Database
