Name Gary Barber Role Film producer | Siblings Cecil Barber | |
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Awards Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Nominations Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Movies The Vow, The Tourist, 27 Dresses, The Pacifier, Shanghai Noon Similar People Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, James G Robinson, Tom Shadyac, Michael Sucsy | ||
Organizations founded Spyglass Entertainment | ||
Gary Barber (born 1957) is an American film producer of South African descent. Since 2010 Barber is chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is also co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment.
Life and career
Barber was born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg. He was educated at King David School, Linksfield, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He then received an Accounting degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Afterwards he worked as a Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant in South Africa and the United States, both with Price Waterhouse.
In 1982 the horse racing fan won a trip to the Arlington Million race in Illinois. In the same year he moved to the States, where his brother Cecil Barber was living since 1979. In the mid-1980s Barber became an US citizen.
In 1998 he and Roger Birnbaum founded Spyglass Entertainment in Los Angeles. His highest grossing film as producer was The Tourist (2010), which grossed close to US$280 million at the worldwide box office.
In December 2010 Barber became Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Under his leadership MGM together with Eon Productions and Sony Pictures financed the successful James Bond film Skyfall, which grossed US$1,1 billion. MGM then also financed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), 21 Jump Street (2012) and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013). MGM then finally moved forward with remakes of RoboCop and Poltergeist.
Barber is also a Thoroughbred racehorse owner. His horse, The Deputy, owned in partnership with Team Valor, won the 2000 running of the Grade II Santa Catalina Stakes and the Grade I Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. In 2006 another of his horses, Becrux, also owned in partnership with Team Valor, won the Grade I Woodbine Mile at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. In 2014, his filly Lexie Lou won the Queen's Plate and was named the Canadian Horse of the Year.
Barber has three daughters and lives in Los Angeles.