Avi Arad facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Avi Arad
Arad at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	(1948-08-01) August 1, 1948 (age 76) Ramat Gan, Israel
Nationality	Israeli American
Occupation	Film producer studio executive
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Joyce Arad
Children	3

Avi Arad (/ˈɑːvi ˈɑːrɑːd/; Hebrew: אבי ארד; born August 1, 1948) is an Israeli-American film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the chairman, CEO, and founder of Marvel Studios. Since then, he has produced a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the 2018 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature.

Early life

Arad was born in 1948 in Ramat Gan, Israel, to a Jewish family. The son of Holocaust survivors from Poland, he grew up reading Superman and Spider-Man comics translated into Hebrew. In 1965, he was conscripted as a soldier into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He fought and was wounded in the 1967 Six-Day War, and spent 15 days recuperating. Arad finished his military service in 1968.

In 1970, Arad moved to the United States and enrolled at Hofstra University to study industrial management. He worked as a truck driver and as a Hebrew teacher to put himself through college, and graduated with a BBA in 1972.

Career

Marvel Comics

Along with Israeli-American Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter, Avi Arad came into conflict with Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman over control of Marvel Comics in the wake of its 1996 bankruptcy. In the end, Arad and Perlmutter came out on top, with Toy Biz taking over Marvel Comics in a complicated deal that included obtaining the rights to Spider-Man and other superheroes that Marvel had sold earlier. He was involved in Marvel's emergence from bankruptcy and the expansion of the company's profile through licensing and movies.

Arad Productions

On May 31, 2006, Arad resigned his various Marvel positions, including his leadership of Marvel Studios, to form his own production company, Arad Productions (also known as Arad Animation), a company that primarily produces Marvel-licensed films separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His first non-Marvel film was 2007's Bratz. Further ventures include: manga adaptation Ghost in the Shell; an adaptation of Brandon Mull's best-seller teenage fantasy, Fablehaven (which died in production); an adaptation of James Patterson's award-winning teenage novel Maximum Ride; the adaptations of two Sony PlayStation properties, Uncharted and infamous, and an adaptation of the video game Metal Gear Solid.

Production I.G

On August 25, 2010, it was announced that Arad was given a chair with the American branch of animation studio Production I.G in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Feature films

Direct-to-video

Television

See also

In Spanish: Avi Arad para niños