Iona Pictures

J. Rupert Thompson - Bio

J. Rupert Thompson is an outlier in the world of unscripted television directing and producing. He has been nominated seven times for the prestigious Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs, and won twice. 

Rupert started in the entertainment business as a feature film electrician, working on popular horror films like Nightmare on Elm St. and Friday the 13th. He then became a Director of Photography, and finally a Director.

Rupert was a partner at Evolution Media for over ten years, creating children's reality shows shows such as Bug Juice and Totally Hoops for Disney Channel, and was an Executive Producer on the first season of Big Brother. Once he became the director of NBC’s Fear Factor, Rupert decided to focus on directing and producing shows exclusively. He went on to direct eight seasons of Fear Factor, and eight seasons of Wipeout for ABC and TBS, as well as countless other successful unscripted shows across every major network and multiple cable channels.

Rupert's full resume is available here, and examples of his work can be found here. Rupert is represented by Josh Levenbrown at UTA.