Biography

A Los Angeles native, Mike Werb received his undergraduate degrees from Stanford, where he majored in one thing after another. He put his costly education to use by joining a New Wave garage band that never left the garage. Turning to writing, he began a burlesque climb up the well-greased Hollywood ladder by entering the UCLA Master's program in screenwriting. He has since worked for every major studio.

Mike's big break was writing the screenplay for the Jim Carrey comedy "The Mask," but he also embraces his other produced credits, including "Darkman 3: Die, Darkman, Die!," and the giant-rats-attack-a-college-campus epic "Gnaw: The Food of the Gods, Part 2."

Mike co-wrote and co-produced (with Michael Colleary) the action-thriller "Face/Off," directed by John Woo and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The New York Times lauded the Oscar-nominated film as "one the 1,000 greatest movies of all time," and Face/Off won the 1997 Best Screenplay statuette at the 24th annual Saturn Awards.

21st century accomplishments include being one of six credited screenwriters on "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" starring Angelina Jolie, and the WB's flashy flop TV series "Tarzan" starring Travis Fimmel's abs. Werb and Colleary also worked intimately with Arnold Schwarzenegger on "Collateral Damage," his last major motion picture before becoming Governor of California.

Recent film credits include the well-reviewed animated hit "Curious George" (Universal/Imagine) and the family comedy "Firehouse Dog" (New Regency/Fox). Werb and Colleary are developing "Prophets of the Ghost Ants" with author Clark Carlton, Lawrence Bender/A Band Apart and director Conrad Vernon ("Monsters v. Aliens").

Mike also wrote the nano-tech action pilot "Flyswatters" for the SyFy Channel which he will executive produce with Darren Star ("Sex and the City") should it ever go into production.

He is currently working on "Unnatural History" -- a live-action-adventure series for Warner Horizon and the Cartoon Network.

Mike is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Writers Guild of America and a nominating-committee member of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.