Jason Reitman

Jason R. Reitman ( /ˈraɪtmən/; born October 19, 1977) is a Canadian and American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up in the Air (2009), Young Adult (2011), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Saturday Night (2024). He has received one Grammy Award, one Golden Globe and four Academy Award nominations, two for Best Director. He is the son of director Ivan Reitman and is known for frequently collaborating with screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Gil Kenan.

Reitman was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Geneviève Robert, an actress sometimes billed as Geneviève Deloir, and film director Ivan Reitman (1946–2022). Reitman has two younger sisters: Catherine Reitman, an actress, producer and writer, who is three years younger, and Caroline Reitman, a nurse, who is twelve years younger.

Reitman's father was born in Czechoslovakia, to Jewish parents who were Holocaust survivors. Reitman's paternal grandfather ran a dry cleaner and then a car wash.

His mother is from a Christian background and of French-Canadian descent; she converted to Judaism. When he was still a child, his family moved to Los Angeles.

His father, Ivan, directed the films Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Stripes and Kindergarten Cop. Reitman grew up on set, and has photos of himself as a baby on the set of Animal House in 1978; Bill Murray described Reitman as "a pain in the ass" while filming Ghostbusters, with Dan Aykroyd joking that "he was directing back then". Such experiences showed him that making movies is "a job that people do, that it's not just this piece of magic that happens".

Jason described his childhood self as "a loser...a movie geek...[and] shy." In the late 1980s, Reitman began appearing in small acting parts and serving as a production assistant on his father's films. He spent time in the editing rooms of his father's movies, learning the process.

Reitman graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in 1995; Reitman was a high jumper in high school, coached by Occidental College Hall-of-Famer Phil Sweeney.

Reitman attended Skidmore College and was going to major in pre-med studies before transferring to the University of Southern California (USC) to major in English/Creative Writing. At USC, he performed with improv group Commedus Interruptus.