Who

Winick is the director of films like Tadpole and 13 Going on 30. Along with John Sloss, he was a founder of digital production company InDiGent, which shut down in 2007.

Backstory

Winick got his start in film while at a student at Tufts, directing a public access show called Tracks Inn that starred his classmates Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria. After adding an MFA from the University of Texas to his resume, Winick began what would be a seven-year stint working in the film department at New York University. While at NYU, he made his directorial debut with the straight-to-video Curfew in 1988, but it wasn't until his sixth movie, 2002's Tadpole (which starred Bebe Neuwirth and Sigourney Weaver) that he made a splash. The film, which had a budget of $150,000, ended up nabbing the top prize at Sundance and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax snapped up the rights for $5 million. Although the film didn't turn out to be a big hit at the box office, it provided an entrée to Hollywood and Winick followed up with a much more commercial feature, 13 Going on 30, starring Jennifer Garner as an awkward teen who's transformed overnight into a 30-year-old hottie.

Winick recently directed 2006 Charlotte's Web, which features the voices of Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, Dakota Fanning, Steve Buscemi, and Kathy Bates. He has also directed episodes of Lipstick Jungle and Ugly Betty.

Of note

In addition to directing, Winick was a co-founder of InDiGent, along with indie power lawyer John Sloss. (It's short for Independent Digital Entertainment.) The production company, which focused exclusively on low-budget digital films, produced over a dozen films (Richard Linklater's Tape, Pieces of April starring Katie Holmes, Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity) before closing its doors in 2007.

Personal

Winick is single and lives in the West 70s.