James Redford (I)

James Redford is Founder and President of The James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness (JRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the need for organ and tissue donation through film, educational outreach and the web. James founded the organization in 1995, two years after receiving a liver transplant at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

To meet this goal, James Redford produced The Kindness of Strangers (1999), a feature-length award-winning documentary film, which premiered on HBO; and "Flow", a short drama targeted to high schools and community-based youth programs. "Flow" is accompanied by an Educational Outreach Kit, which contains the video, lesson plans and support materials for high school teachers and community leaders. The Flow educational kits (distributed by the Coalition on Donation) have been enthusiastically received, and are currently in use in school systems, community organizations and youth groups across the country. The JRI web site has also been a resource for those seeking information about organ donation and those who have already been touched by transplantation and want to share their story, www.jrifilms.org reaches thousands of people each week.

James Redford is producing a feature documentary about the Ramapough Mountain Tribe located in New Jersey. He recently made his feature film directorial debut with Rota de Um Destino (2003), starring Stanley Tucci, Ryan Merriman, Dana Delany, Paula Garcés and Rubén Blades, based on his adaptation of the novel of the same name. "Spin" premiered as an official selection of the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2004, prior to its US theatrical release. "Spin" won a Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and will be seen this fall Showtime.

Redford also wrote the screenplays for Xavier Koller's Cowboy Up (2001) starring Kiefer Sutherland, Daryl Hannah and Pete Postlethwaite and Skinwalkers (2002) - director Chris Eyre's PBS/Mystery movie that was one of the highest rated PBS programs of 2002.

Redford has written screenplays for such production companies as Universal Pictures, Blackbird films and South Fork Pictures. "The Acting Thing", for which he wrote the screenplay, was named best comedic short film at the Houston Film Festival and premiered on the Sundance Channel. He produced the documentary, The Kindness of Strangers (1999), which aired on HBO and won the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Chicago Alternative Film Festival.

Redford was Writer-in-Residence at the New Harmony Project in New Hampshire, and has been a correspondent for Rolling Stock Literary Review. Redford is also president of the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, which he founded in 1995, following his liver transplant. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to educating the public about the need for organ and tissue donation.

Jamie holds a Bachelor's degree in creative writing and film from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Master's degree in literature from Northwestern University. He lives in Marin County, California with his wife, Kyle, and their two children.

He is a guitarist and songwriter currently playjng Marin County's local music scene with the Phat Barbees.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: annie aft

Son of Robert Redford and Lola Van Wagenen.
Older brother of Amy Redford and younger brother of Shauna Redford Schlosser.
Brother-in-law of Eric Schlosser.
Lives in Marin County, California, with wife, Kyle, son Dylan Redford and daughter Lena.
Raised in New York City and in Utah.
Earned a dual degree at the University of Colorado in English and film. Earned his MA in literature at Northwestern University, in Chicago.
After many severe bouts of stomach pain from age 15, he was finally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. In spite of severe symptoms over the years, of rapid weight loss, internal bleeding and fevers, he managed to play guitar, ski and earn his college and grad school degrees. However, his disease eventually took on a much deadlier life of its own. In 1987, he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitus; a rare complication that blocks the liver's bile ducts. Only 25, he was told his liver would fail in five to ten years. By 1993, his condition had deteriorated so dramatically that he had to live at the University of Nebraska Medical Center battling excruciating pain and dangerous infections while hoping for a new liver. One finally became available and, at first, the prognosis was excellent. But a week after the transplant, it, too, began to fail. He went back to the organ donation waiting game, getting sicker every day and feeling like "the clock was really ticking".

Miraculously, another donor was found and, this time, the transplant was a complete success. With anti-rejection medication a staple of his daily diet for life, he was discharged in two weeks, a full recovery within his grasp. Determined to educate the public about the urgent need for donors and to erase the stigma attached, he established the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness in 1995 and produced an award-winning HBO documentary, The Kindness of Strangers (1999), that integrated the stories of transplant recipients and the families of the organ donors who lost their loved ones.
Lead guitarist for Olive and the Dirty Martinis.