Photo: Sam Emerson - © Paramount Pictures

Born in New York City; educated at NYU and NYU Law School. Former entertainment lawyer who in 1972 founded Inter-Ocean Film Sales, a company which specialized in the foreign distribution of American TV movies, with Anne Feinberg, who would become his wife. Kopelson moved into production in 1979, forming Film Packages, Inc., now known as Arnold Kopelson Productions. His films have been collectively responsible for 17 Academy Award® nominations and over $2.5 billion in worldwide receipts. Notable producing credits (sometimes as executive producer) include THE LEGACY (1978), LOST AND FOUND (1979), FOOLIN' AROUND (1980), PORKY'S (1981), GIMME AN 'F' (1984), PLATOON (1986), WARLOCK (1989), FIRE BIRDS (1990), OUT FOR JUSTICE (1991), FALLING DOWN and THE FUGITIVE (both 1993), OUTBREAK and SE7EN (both 1995), ERASER (1996), MURDER AT 1600, MAD CITY and THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (all 1997), U.S. MARSHALS and A PERFECT MURDER (both 1998), DON'T SAY A WORD and JOE SOMEBODY (both 2001), TWISTED (2004), and A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW and IN THE NAVY (both scheduled for 2009). For many years, Kopelson has served on the Executive Committee of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a member of the Board of Mentors of the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California. He has lectured on filmmaking at Harvard Business School, American Film Institute, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, New York Law School, the Writers Guild of America, the Independent Feature Project West, The Kagan Seminar, University of Southern California, and University of California at Los Angeles, among other places, and has also written several articles about motion picture financing. In 1998, Kopelson received the New York Law School Distinguished Alumnus Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Best Picture of the Year 1986: PLATOON - Producer at Hemdale.  Nominated for Best Picture of the Year 1993: THE FUGITIVE - Producer at Warner Bros. 2 nominations, 1 Award