Jay Chandrasekhar Biography
Born in 1968 in Chicago, the Tamil-American writer/director Jay Chandrasekhar ignited his show-business career as the most active contributor to the five-member Broken_Lizard sketch comedy team. Chandrasekhar -- a graduate of Lake Forest Academy -- attended Colgate University in the early '90s, where he met his contemporary Lizardians Kevin_Heffernan, Steve_Lemme, Paul_Soter, and Erik_Stolhanske. The troupe initially christened itself "Charred Goosebeak," but quickly went with the name "Broken Lizard" instead. Club dates and, eventually, two feature films ensued, the 1996 Puddle_Cruiser and the 2001 Super_Troopers; Chandrasekhar took the director's chair for each. Rife with sight gags, scatological puns, double entendres, and slapstick, the movies (which premiered at Sundance) suggested influences by such laff-fests as the Police_Academy series and the "Kentucky Fried Theater" films. Fox Searchlight picked up Super_Troopers and it made indie box-office gold; a 2004 follow-up, the less successful slapstick/horror hybrid Broken_Lizard's_Club_Dread, followed. At this point, Hollywood acknowledged Chandrasekhar's talent, not only by inviting him as a guest director to helm episodes of such hit series as Arrested_Development, Undeclared, and Cracking_Up, but via an invitation to direct the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard update, co-starring Jessica_Simpson, Johnny_Knoxville, Seann_William_Scott, Burt_Reynolds, and, in supporting roles, additional members of the Broken_Lizard team. The film revealed that Chandrasekhar had his hand on the audience's pulse -- unlike the director's prior motion pictures, it soared to number one across America (despite critical pans). Chandrasekhar then announced work on a fourth Broken_Lizard vehicle, Beerfest, another wild comedy, about a couple of Americans who travel to Deutschland for the Oktoberfest. Chandrasekhar is married to the actress Susan Clarke; they have one child. Nathan Southern, Rovi
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