Biography

Gale Anne Hurd

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Overview

Born
October 25, 1955 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Mini bio

Gale Anne Hurd is a multi-award-winning producer and the founder of Valhalla Entertainment, most recently known for the global cultural phenomenon, Emmy®-winning and record shattering TV series, The Walking Dead, and its multiple spin-offs, including Fear the Walking Dead, Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live, among others. Hurd's feature, The YouTube Effect, is an eye-opening documentary, directed by Alex Winter, which presents a thoughtful, troubling look at YouTube, a site with humble origins that has gone on to change how we experience the world. The film premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically in the US by Alamo Drafthouse Films. Her additional producing credits include Mankiller, a multiple award-winning documentary on the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Sundance Audience Award winner The Waterdance, and such iconic classic feature films as Aliens, The Abyss, Armageddon, Tremors, Alien Nation, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day -- which was recently added to the National Film Registry by the US Library of Congress, joining The Terminator, which was added in 2008 .

Additionally, Hurd is a highly sought-after speaker on such topics as the status of the entertainment industry and gender equality. She has spoken at the Berlin, Deauville, Locarno and Toronto Film Festivals, the Milken Global Summit Conference and countless other programs worldwide. She has been featured on numerous podcasts, including "WTF with Marc Maron" and Deadline's "Strike Talk." Hurd's prestigious honors include the 2022 Locarno Film Festival's Best Independent Producer Award, the Cartier Award from the Deauville American Film Festival, Women in Film's Crystal Award, the Producer's Guild's David O. Selznick Best Feature Film Producer Award, the Visual Effects Society's Lifetime Achievement Award and, most recently, the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Online Film Critics Association.
- IMDb mini biography by: Valhalla Entertainment

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Trivia

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6621 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 3, 2012. Director James Cameron and actor Andrew Lincoln were guest speakers at the ceremony.
One of her hobbies is scuba diving and she set up two live-aboard dive boat businesses, the Truk Aggressor and the Palau Aggressor, both based in Micronesia.
Designated 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as her favorite film for an American Film Institute poll.
Is close friends with Martha Coolidge and goes to her ranch sometimes to ride the horses she keeps there.
Owns a yacht named Double Feature.

Quotes

I'm just attracted to the action element of science fiction. It's great to sit in the editing room with the director and sound engineers and to create the feeling where your heart is racing and you're sitting at the edge of your seat and you find yourself holding your breath.
A lot of my films have dealt with the dark side of technology and stress that you have to examine the ramifications of progress.
(from a 1988 interview) Filmmaking is a business and at the bottom line people who don't make fiscally responsible decisions end up going into another line of work. You've seen several independent companies go bust recently. There's every reason in the world to put your money behind a sure bet and if you check the business sequels do it's really one of the surest bets around.
(on the benefits of shooting on real locations) When you're on a sound stage -- which I have to tell you everyone prefers -- it's easier. But you don't have the same tension, the same energy level. You can tell a film that has been shot at a brisk pace with lots of energy. It comes through in the dynamics of what you see on the screen. Somehow, it's easier to create when you're out there in real places on real streets, no matter what the hardships are while you're shooting. There's much more camaraderie when you're out there in the elements.
A lot of producers now are people who stay in their office and never go to the set. I don't know how you can be the advocate of the movie if you're not there in it every day.