Rob Hardy | |
---|---|
Born |
Robert Hardy, Jr. July 22, 1971 Philadelphia, PA |
Residence | Atlanta, GA |
Education | George School |
Alma mater | Florida A&M University |
Occupation | Filmmaker, businessman |
Spouse(s) | Shaun Hardy |
Robert "Rob" Hardy, Jr. (born July 22, 1971) is a film director, film producer, screenwriter, and television director. With partner Will Packer, he founded the production company Rainforest Films in 1994. Hardy's films credits include The Gospel, Trois, and Trois 2: Pandora's Box. His television credits include ER, Criminal Minds, Arrow, and The Game.
Rob Hardy began his career as a high school senior at George School with the camcorder-shot movie G-Man. While pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Florida A&M University, he made the leap to film with the low-budget motion picture Chocolate City. This experience earned him the institution's highest honor, the Bernard Hendricks Student Leadership Award, and helped Hardy and film partner William Packer (Will Packer) launch Rainforest Films. The underground buzz on the project soon led to his controversial film Trois. Hardy not only directed and co-wrote the thriller, he was also instrumental in self-distributing the project to be the fastest Independent African-American film to pass the $1 million mark. In 2003, after directing the critically acclaimed thriller Trois 2: Pandora's Box, he added the role of “Producer” to his credits by collaborating with business partner Will Packer to produce Motives, and later, Trois: The Escort.
Hardy then wrote and directed the spiritually-themed drama The Gospel and produced the companion concert film The Gospel Live. Executively producing Mekhi Phifer's directorial film debut Puff, Puff, Pass soon followed. Next, he served as Executive Producer of Stomp The Yard, which held the No. 1 position at the box office for two weekends in January 2007 and was named Best Movie at the 2007 BET Hip Hop Awards.. He went on to work on several other projects, including Stomp The Yard: Homecoming and Think Like a Man.