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Jonathan Michael "Jon" Avnet (born November 17, 1949) is an American director, writer and producer. Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha (née Grossman) and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive with Avnet (a Global distributor of IT & electronics). He attended Great Neck North High School in Great Neck, New York. Avnet studied at Sarah Lawrence College. Avnet came into show business by staging Off-Broadway theatrical productions. He later entered the film industry as a reader at United Artists and then took part in the director's program of the American Film Institute... MORE

Jonathan Michael "Jon" Avnet (born November 17, 1949) is an American director, writer and producer. Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha (née Grossman) and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive with Avnet (a Global distributor of IT & electronics). He attended Great Neck North High School in Great Neck, New York. Avnet studied at Sarah Lawrence College. Avnet came into show business by staging Off-Broadway theatrical productions. He later entered the film industry as a reader at United Artists and then took part in the director's program of the American Film Institute when his student film Confusion's Corner (featuring Richard Gere, then unknown) got him a fellowship. After he had worked as an associate producer, Avnet started Tisch/Avnet Productions in 1977 with Steve Tisch. They spent seven years producing many successful films (including Risky Business in 1983 which turned Tom Cruise into a star), several issue-oriented made-for-TV movies like The Burning Bed in 1984 (NBC), starring Farrah Fawcett, and the much praised, but short-running series Call to Glory in 1984-85 (ABC). Avnet then wrote (with screenwriter Larry Grusin) and directed the TV-movie Between LESS