Stephen Sommers

'Stephen Sommers' (qv) was born on March 20, 1962 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Raised in St. Cloud, Minnesota, he attended St. John's University and the University of Seville in Spain. Afterward, Sommers spent the next four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe.From there, he relocated to Los Angeles and attended the USC School of Cinema-Television for three years, earning a Masters Degree, where he wrote and directed an award winning short film called "Perfect Alibi". With independent funding, he wrote and directed his first motion picture _Catch Me If You Can (1989)_ (qv) which was filmed on location in his hometown St. Cloud, Minnesota. Sommers then went on to write and direct _The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)_ (qv) as well as the latest version of 'Rudyard Kipling' (qv)'s _The Jungle Book (1994)_ (qv) both for 'Walt Disney' (qv) Pictures. Sommers also wrote the screenplays for the grade-B action flick _Gunmen (1993)_ (qv) and the Disney adventure _Tom and Huck (1995)_ (qv) which he also executive produced. He also wrote and directed the suspense-thriller _Deep Rising (1998)_ (qv), and the latest version of _The Mummy (1999)_ (qv). For television, Sommers wrote and executive produced _The Wonderful World of Disney: Oliver Twist (1997)_ (qv) for director 'Tony Bill' (qv).Most recently, he wrote and directed the sequel to _The Mummy (1999)_ (qv), titled _The Mummy Returns (2001)_ (qv), as well as the horror-thriller-action epic _Van Helsing (2004)_ (qv), and the live-action adaptation _G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)_ (qv).::matt-282