MARK JOHNSON won an Academy Award® for his producing work on the Best Picture winner Rain Man, and earned an Oscar® nomination for Bugsy, also winning Golden Globe Awards for each. Both films were directed by Barry Levinson, with whom Johnson has enjoyed a long association that began with the directors debut film Diner, which Johnson executive produced. He has also produced Levinsons The Natural, Young Sherlock Holmes, Tin Men, Good Morning, Vietnam, Avalon, Toys, Jimmy Hollywood and An Everlasting Piece, to be distributed by DreamWorks.
Johnsons other recent producing credits include the sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, My Dog Skip, Donnie Brasco, A Little Princess and A Perfect World. He earlier served as executive producer on Steven Soderberghs Kafka, Sniper, which was Luis Llosas directorial debut, and Glenn Gordon Carons Wilder Napalm. He, along with Levinson, also presented the 1990 Oscar®-winning foreign language film Journey of Hope and the acclaimed political satire Bob Roberts.
Johnson began his career upon being accepted into the Directors Guild training program after earning a Masters in Film Scholarship from the University of Iowa. He advanced from production assistant to assistant director on such films as Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Movie, Movie, The Brinks Job, Escape from Alcatraz and High Anxiety. It was on the last that he met Levinson, who was one of the films writers.