A native of Utica, New York, Steven Brill studied film, theater and acting at Boston University. Upon graduation, he moved to Los Angeles where he began auditioning as an actor and writing screenplays on spec. In his spare time, Brill would go skating at public ice rinks - which proved a fortuitous hobby. One day while watching a Pee Wee hockey practice, he was struck by the idea for The Mighty Ducks.
Brill scripted the film, recalling his own youth hockey experience, and sold it to Walt Disney Pictures in 1990. Emilio Estevez was cast as Coach Gordon Bombay in the 1992 release. One year later, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim entered their first NHL season. Brill next wrote and executive produced the 1995 sequel D2-The Mighty Ducks are Back, and in 1997, D3-The Mighty Ducks.
1995 also saw Brill’s motion picture directorial debut with the Disney film Heavyweights, a comedy about a group of kids at a weight loss summer camp starring Ben Stiller. He co-wrote the script with Judd Apatow, with Joe Roth’s Caravan Films serving as producer....
Brill wrote and directed Late Last Night in 1998 for Screenland Pictures. Late Last Night stars Emilio Estevez, Steven Weber, and Catherine O’Hara. It chronicles one intense night in the life of a man in Los Angeles.
In 1999 Brill wrote Ready to Rumble for Warner Brothers. The film, starred, Oliver Platt, and Martin Landau. Brill then directed and co-wrote Little Nicky, with Adam Sandler for New Line Cinema. Also starring in the picture are Harvey Keitel, Patricia Arquette and Reese Witherspoon.
Brill followed that up by directing Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler. Deeds, also starring Winona Ryder, came out in June of 2024 and made over 125 million at the box office.
Brill then re-wrote and directed Without A Paddle for Paramount Pictures.
He is currently directing, Drillbit Taylor starring Owen Wilson, for Paramount Pictures.... He is also currently developing projects as a writer/director with: Working Title/Universal, New Line Pictures, Dreamworks, and HBO.
Aside from writing and directing, Brill has kept busy as an actor on such diverse films as Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Postcards From the Edge, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Mighty Ducks, When a Man Loves a Woman, The Wedding Singer, and Big Daddy.
His television credits include: Sunset Beat starring George Clooney, Glory Days starring Brad Pitt, and The Weekend, a new show for CBS.
He is working with Stuart Davis on several television projects, most notably Kill The Buddha and Red, White, And Stu, an "interior travelogue."
He is also producing and writing Grace & Grit, with Jennifer Anniston attached to star.
