Thomas Sherak life and biography

Thomas Sherak, whose remarkable career has seen him at the pinnacle of motion picture marketing, distribution and production, is now serving as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is also consulting for Marvel Studios and Relativity Media.

Previously, Sherak was a partner at Revolution Studios. In its seven years of operation, Revolution Studios released more than thirty films, including "America's Sweethearts," "Black Hawk Down," "XXX," "Anger Management," "Daddy Day Care," "Hellboy," "13 Going On 30," "White Chicks," "The Forgotten," "Christmas with the Kranks," "Are We There Yet?," "Rent," "The Benchwarmers," "Click," "Rocky Balboa" and "Across the Universe."
Prior to joining Revolution Studios, Sherak was Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Domestic Film Group. In addition, Sherak served as Senior Executive Vice President of Fox Filmed Entertainment. Previously, he was Senior Executive Vice President of Twentieth Century Fox.

At Twentieth Century Fox, Sherak oversaw the distribution and post-production of such films as "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition," "Mrs. Doubtfire," "True Lies," "Speed," "Independence Day," "Broken Arrow," "Dr. Dolittle," "The X-Files," and "Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace."

In 1990 Sherak was named Executive Vice President of Twentieth Century Fox. Previously, he was President of Domestic Distribution and Marketing for Twentieth Century Fox from May 1983 to September 1984, and again from June 1986 to July 1990. In that position, he supervised the company's domestic distribution, advertising/publicity/promotion operations and the non-theatrical film division. He has overseen the marketing and distribution of such films as "Romancing the Stone," "Commando," "Aliens," "The Fly," "Broadcast News," "Predator," "Wall Street," "Die Hard," "Working Girl," "The War of the Roses," "Die Hard 2," "Home Alone," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Die Hard: With a Vengeance." Sherak joined Fox from General Cinema, where he was Vice President and head film buyer.
Sherak began his career in the film industry at Paramount Pictures in 1970 where he worked in the New York, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis distribution offices.
He is an active board member of the Southern California Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Fulfillment Fund of Southern California. Serving as Chair for the MS Dinner of Champions gala event for the past 18 years, Sherak has helped raise just under 40 million dollars for multiple sclerosis research and programs. He is a former Chairman of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation and formerly on the Board of Directors for the Motion Picture and Television Fund as well as the Southern California Variety the Children's Charity.

Sherak has also previously served as Treasurer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Sherak received an honorary doctorate in the arts from the Academy of Art University in May 2010 and holds a degree in Marketing from New York City Community College. He is also on the faculty of the UCLA Producers Program.

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