Raised in New York City

Worked as a designer and stills photographer

Made a number of television commercials and short documentaries before turning to features

Short film, "Ivanhoe Donaldson", won the Gold Prize at Germany's Mannheim Film Festival

Feature directing and producing debut, "The Ragman's Daughter"

Followed up with the harrowing adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh's novel "The Onion Field", starring James Woods and Ted Danson

Directed another Wambaugh adaptation, "The Black Marble", a black comedy also starring James Woods

Helmed "Taps", a gripping drama about an uprising at a military school that launched the careers of Sean Penn and Tom Cruise

Directed the romance "Vision Quest", starring Matthew Modine as a champion high school wrestler who falls for an alluring older woman (Linda Fiorentino)

Reteamed with Woods for "The Boost", a powerful portrait of drug addiction

Directed "Sea of Love", a New York-set police thriller starring Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin

Produced and directed the thriller "Malice", starring Alec Baldwin as a doctor with a god complex

Was producer and director of "City Hall", a portrait of New York City politics starring Pacino and John Cusack

Directed the action thriller "Mercury Rising", starring Bruce Willis as a maverick FBI agent guarding a child who unwittingly cracked a National Security Agency code; Alec Baldwin was cast at the villain

Produced and directed the thriller "Domestic Disturbance"