James D. Stern is an American film and Broadway producer. He won a 2003 Tony Award for Hairspray, has been nominated for other awards, and was a Drama Desk Award winner for Stomp.
Before starting Endgame Entertainment, Stern co-directed and produced the IMAX film Michael Jordan to the Max and HBO's It's the Rage. On stage he produced The Producers, the 12-time Tony Award-winning Mel Brooks show and the eight time Tony Award-winning Hairspray. Stern produced Stomp, The Diary of Anne Frank starring Natalie Portman, Legally Blonde; Twilight 1992, which was nominated for a Tony; and The Weir, an Olivier Award-winning play. He produced Alan Menken's Leap of Faith during the fall of 2010.
Stern founded and ran the financial investment company and hedge fund Stern Joint Venture, L.P. (SJV). He produced the thriller Self/less with his company Endgame Entertainment and FilmDistrict. He directed the 2018 documentary American Chaos. He has a B.A. degree in directing from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a M.B.A. degree in marketing and finance from Columbia University in Manhattan, New York.
On March 11, 2002, Stern founded Endgame Entertainment as an independent production company to produce, develop, and finance films and other forms of entertainment properties. Under his leadership, Endgame Entertainment has financed or cofinanced more than 25 films. Endgame filmed Seeking Justice, directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Nicolas Cage, January Jones, and Guy Pearce. They also released An Education (Sony Pictures Classics), which received three Academy Award nominations and Every Little Step (Sony Pictures Classics), which Stern co-produced and co-directed. The documentary grossed about $1.7 million and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
Previous Endgame releases include Summit's The Brothers Bloom, Sony Pictures Classics' Easy Virtue, and the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, featuring an Oscar-nominated performance by Cate Blanchett. Hotel Rwanda and Lord of War for Lionsgate, Proof for Miramax, Universal's White Noise, Hollywood Pictures' Stay Alive, and New Line's Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle are earlier releases. Stern co-directed and produced the documentaries The Year of the Yao (New Line) and ...So Goes the Nation (IFC).
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.