Barry Mendel is an American film producer.
The first film he produced was Rushmore, directed by Wes Anderson which won IFP Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director Anderson and Best Supporting Actor Bill Murray. This was followed by The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture. Subsequently, he produced its follow-up, Unbreakable, then went back to work with Wes Anderson on the The Royal Tenenbaums, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writers Anderson and Owen Wilson. This collaboration continued on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which was followed by Joss Whedon's directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Serenity.
Mendel conceived and spent eight years putting together Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
He then went back to work with Shyamalan, producing the box-office hit The Happening.
In 2008, Mendel produced Judd Apatow's Funny People starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana and Jason Schwartzman and also Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Whip It starring Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig and Barrymore and Peacock directed by Michael Lander featuring Cillian Murphy, Page and Susan Sarandon.