Morgan Spurlock

Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter, and political activist, best known for the documentary films Super Size Me, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope and One Direction: This Is Us. Spurlock was the executive producer and star of the reality television series 30 Days. In June 2013, he became host and producer of the CNN show Inside Man. He is also the co-founder of short-film content marketing company cinelan, which produced the Focus Forward campaign for GE.

Early life

Spurlock was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Beckley, West Virginia. His parents, Phyllis and Ben Spurlock, raised him as a Methodist. He graduated from New York University in 1993 and is a member of the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta.

Spurlock has said he is of Scots-Irish and English descent.

Career

Spurlock attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia, graduating in 1989. He graduated with a BFA in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1993. Before making the 2004 Academy Award nominated Super Size Me, Spurlock was a playwright, winning awards for his play The Phoenix at both the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000. He also created I Bet You Will for MTV. I Bet You Will began as a popular Internet webcast of five-minute episodes featuring ordinary people doing stunts in exchange for money. Examples include eating a full jar of mayonnaise ($235USD), eating a "worm burrito" ($265USD), and taking shots of corn oil, Pepto-Bismol, lemon juice, hot sauce, cold chicken broth, and cod liver oil (US$450.00 for all nine shots). The webcast was a success, with over a million hits in the first five days. MTV later bought and aired the show.