Brett Ratner

Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor, and music video director. He is known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist. He was also a producer on the Fox drama series, Prison Break, as well as the comedy Horrible Bosses and its 2014 sequel.

Early life

Ratner was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Marsha Pratts (remarried), a socialite, and Ronald Ratner. He grew up in a "middle-class Jewish family". His father was the son of a wealthy Miami businessman. His mother was born in Cuba, and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s with her parents, Fanita and Mario Presman (their families had originally moved to Cuba from Eastern Europe). Ratner's mother was sixteen when he was born. Ratner told Aventura Business Monthly in a May, 2011, cover story interview that he "really didn't know" his biological father, and that he considers Alvin Malnik, who opened the famous Forge restaurant in Miami Beach, to be his dad, "the one who raised" him. Ratner's biological father was chronically homeless in Miami Beach, a situation which inspired the adult Brett to become the director and board member of the nationwide nonprofit organization Chrysalis, which helps the homeless find work.