Karey Kirkpatrick

Karey Kirkpatrick
Karey Kirkpatrick in 2006
Born	(1964-12-14) December 14, 1964 (age 52) Monroe, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, director
Relatives	Wayne Kirkpatrick (brother)

Karey Kirkpatrick (born December 14, 1964) is an American screenwriter and director. His films include James and the Giant Peach, Chicken Run, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Charlotte's Web and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy adaptation, along with contributions to the Smurfs films. He has also directed the films Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy as well as Over the Hedge. Kirkpatrick wrote the English-language screenplay for U.S. release of The Secret World of Arrietty, in 2012 and From Up on Poppy Hill, in 2013. His brother is American songwriter and musician Wayne Kirkpatrick, with whom he wrote the 2015 musical Something Rotten!.

Kirkpatrick was born in Monroe, Louisiana, and spent the formative years of his life in Baton Rouge. Kirkpatrick attended a performing arts school and started out as an actor. Formerly, he performed in the SAK Comedy Lab improvisational theater in Orlando, Florida. He is an alumnus of Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Kirkpatrick attended the University of Southern California, graduating in 1988. His career pursuits eventually landed him on the streets of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center, where he performed improvisational audience-participation street theater. As his artistic focus turned to writing, he was accepted to the USC School of Cinema-Television's Filmic Writing Program, where he won the Robert Riskin Screenwriting Award and the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Awards.