# Thunder Levin

Thunder Levin is an American screenwriter and director, known for writing the first four Sharknado television films. Levin's work was largely responsible for the resurgence of sharksploitation films.

## Early life and education

Levin was born and raised in New York City. His father, Michael, was an award-winning journalist, while his mother, Glenis, was an immigrant from Liverpool, England.
He graduated from Hunter College High School, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film from New York University.

## Career
### Early career

Levin moved to Los Angeles at the age of 23. In the late 1980s, he worked as a still photographer on three films for the film producer Roger Corman.
His feature-film directorial debut was the 2008 horror comedy Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood!, starring C. Thomas Howell.
Levin subsequently wrote and directed multiple films for production company The Asylum, including the 2012 science-fiction action film American Warships and the 2013 science fiction film AE: Apocalypse Earth.

### Sharknado

In 2013, Levin wrote the made-for-television disaster film Sharknado, about a tornado of shark-infested seawater. The film's debut on the Syfy cable channel attracted nearly 1.37 million viewers and generated nearly 5,000 tweets a minute at its peak.
In 2014, Levin wrote a sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One, which had 3.9 million viewers. Levin subsequently wrote two more sequels, 2015's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and 2016's Sharknado: The 4th Awakens.
Sharknado became a pop-culture phenomenon, ultimately spawning five sequels, a video game, a book, a one-shot comic book, a documentary, and a mockumentary.

## Filmography

| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
| Zombie Tidal Wave | 2019 | story by | |
| The Last Sharknado: It's About Time | 2018 | based on characters created by | also appeared as "Bar Patron" |
| Megalodon | 2018 | story by | |
| Geo-Disaster | 2017 | director, written by | |
| Sharknado 5: Global Swarming | 2017 | based on characters created by | |
| Creature Features | 2017 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Mind Blown | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: The 4th Awakens | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary |
| Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | 2015 | written by | also appeared as "Mr. Benchley from The Post" |
| Infolist Pre Comic-Con Bash | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary short |
| Weekends with Alex Witt | 2014 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Sharknado 2: The Second One | 2014 | written by | |
| Sharknado | 2013 | written by | |
| From the Sea | 2013 | screenplay by | |
| AE: Apocalypse Earth | 2013 | director, written by | |
| American Warships | 2012 | director, writer | |
| 200 M.P.H. | 2011 | written by | |
| Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! | 2008 | director, written by, executive producer | |
| Venice Beach Sketches | 2002 | editor | |
| Soulmates aka Evil Lives | 1992 | director | |
| Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Saturday the 14th Strikes Back | 1988 | still photographer | |
| Hydrosub: 2021 | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate / appeared as "Crewman" | video game |
| The Rescue of Pops Ghostly | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate | video game |