Brad Silberling on AllMovie

A director who has distinguished himself on television as well as in feature films, Brad Silberling was born on September 8, 1963. The son of a television producer, Silberling studied his craft at the U.C.L.A. Film School, but began his career a year before graduating, landing a job as a production assistant on a children's television special in 1986. A short film he wrote and directed, Repairs, attracted the attention of executives at Universal Studios, and he was given a development deal with the studio. The deal failed to lead to a feature-film project, but his work did attract the attention of noted television producer Steven Bochco, who gave Silberling work directing episodic television. Silberling worked on a number of top television programs, directing installments of L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D., Civil Wars, NYPD Blue, and The Byrds of Paradise. Silberling's work on the acclaimed series Brooklyn Bridge attracted the attention of Steven Spielberg, who gave him his first feature-film assignment, directing Spielberg's production of Casper, based on the popular comic books and cartoon series about a friendly young ghost. The film was a box-office success, and Silberling moved on to a more serious project, City of Angels, an Americanized remake of Wim Wenders' Himmel Uber Berlin. While City of Angels was a major box-office success, Silberling continued to work on quality television projects, including episodes of Felicity and Judging Amy. In his personal life, Silberling was once romantically attached to actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and the couple were dating when Schaeffer was murdered by a disturbed fan in 1989. In the long standing tradition of artists channeling their pain and grief into works of remarkable beauty, Silberling used his memories of his former girlfriend's tragic and untimely death as the basis for his next feature, Moonlight mile (2002). A tender and touching tale of loss and the power of human connection, Moonlight mile proved a positive experience for stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon in addition to drawing some of the best reviews of Siberling's career. More happily, Silberling fell in love with actress Amy Brenneman while working with her on the series NYPD Blue, and they became husband and wife in 1995.