Dan Schneider

Daniel James Schneider (born January 14, 1966) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and actor.
== Early life ==
Daniel James Schneider was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 14, 1966, to a Jewish family, the son of Harry and Carol Aisenberg Schneider. He has three sisters: Sally, Nancy, and Kathy. In high school, Schneider was involved in theater and was senior class president. He found work repairing computers upon returning to Memphis, but soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
== Career ==
=== 1984–1994: Career beginnings and acting roles ===
In the 1980s, Schneider appeared in minor roles in several films including the teen comedies Making the Grade (1984) starring Judd Nelson, and Better Off Dead (1985) with John Cusack. He also acted in comedy Hot Resort (1985), the romantic comedy Happy Together (1989) starring Patrick Dempsey, the comedy The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon and the drama Listen to Me (1989). In 1986, he played Dennis Blunden on the ABC television sitcom Head of the Class. The series ran for five seasons from 1986 to 1991. In 1993, he starred in the series Home Free.[citation needed]
Schneider co-hosted the 1988 Kids' Choice Awards, where he met Nickelodeon development executive Albie Hecht. In 1994, he played Shawn Eckardt in Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story, one of two made-for-television films about the Tonya Harding–Nancy Kerrigan scandal. Schneider has made cameo appearances in TV series that he has helped to create and/or produce: All That, and its subsequent film Good Burger, Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly, and Henry Danger. Schneider also does voice-overs in many projects.[citation needed]
=== 1993–2019: Nickelodeon showrunner ===
In 1993, Hecht, now head of production for the network, hired Schneider to work on a new sketch-comedy show for children called All That. After writing the pilot episode, Schneider worked as producer, executive producer, and writer on the show. Schneider quit All That after the fourth season to run The Amanda Show (1999–2002) starring Amanda Bynes. The show's ratings soon declined, and it was cancelled in the 2000–2001 season. Schneider himself often appeared on The Amanda Show as a frustrated old man who was frequently the victim of strange prank phone calls.[citation needed] Nickelodeon then asked Schneider to come back and revamp All That in 2001. Schneider agreed, and All That returned to Nickelodeon in 2002. It ran for another four seasons until 2005, bringing All That to the end of its 10-season run.[citation needed]
From 1996 to 1997, Schneider was an executive producer and a writer for Kenan & Kel starring Keenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Schneider guest-starred in an episode and was an executive producer during the first two seasons. He continued working as a consultant for the remainder of the series. He wrote the 1997 film Good Burger, starring Kenan and Kel and featuring Schneider himself in a supporting role. The film was spun off from a popular All That sketch produced by Schneider. While a modest commercial success it received negative reviews from critics  with Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times giving the film two stars out of four, writing "It didn't do much for me, but I am prepared to predict that its target audience will have a good time." In 1998, he began his career as a show creator with Guys Like Us for UPN. The series is one of only two series Schneider created that was produced for broadcast network television. The show was cancelled after its first season due to low ratings and poor reviews.[citation needed]
Schneider co-created What I Like About You with former Friends writer/producer Wil Calhoun. It premiered in 2002 on The WB and ran until 2006. Schneider was an executive producer during the show's first two seasons. He wrote and co-produced the comedy film Big Fat Liar (2002) starring Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, and Paul Giamatti which earned a total of $52.4 million at the worldwide box office. Schneider returned to Nickelodeon in 2004 with the show Drake & Josh. The series starred Drake Bell and Josh Peck, who were actors on The Amanda Show, and Miranda Cosgrove, who would later star in another of Schneider's shows, iCarly. Overlapping both Drake & Josh and iCarly, Schneider created the show Zoey 101, which starred Jamie Lynn Spears. Zoey 101 was Schneider's first and to date only single-camera format program and the first to be presented in a letterboxed format.[citation needed] Schneider guest-starred in the Zoey 101 series finale "Chasing Zoey", playing a cab driver.[citation needed]
After the show was cancelled in 2008, Schneider began working on a new project for one of the actresses, Victoria Justice. That show, Victorious, premiered in 2010 after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards. It starred Justice, Ariana Grande, Elizabeth Gillies, Leon Thomas III, Matt Bennett and Avan Jogia. A dual-show spin-off of both iCarly and Victorious called Sam & Cat premiered in 2013. It was cancelled after 36 episodes. On March 9, 2010, it was announced that Schneider himself would sign a deal with Nickelodeon. Following the cancellation of Sam & Cat, Schneider co-created Henry Danger with Dana Olsen. The show premiered in 2014. The following year, Schneider created Game Shakers, which reunited him with actor and Nickelodeon veteran Kel Mitchell. Schneider also served as executive producer.
On March 26, 2018, Nickelodeon announced that it would not be extending its production deal with Schneider and his company Schneider's Bakery. In addition, the network also announced that his comedy Game Shakers would not be renewed for a fourth season. His remaining Nickelodeon comedy Henry Danger would be receiving a fifth season and a new showrunner.
=== 2020–present: Upcoming projects ===
After a three-year hiatus, Schneider announced that he had several new projects in development; The New York Times commented that he seemed "set on returning to television and reintroducing his brand of comedy to new audiences". In a June 2021 interview, he described an "ambitious and very different" television pilot that he had written and sold to a different network. Schneider said that this proposed show is aimed at more of an adult audience than his previous work.
== Filmography ==
* Making the Grade (1984)
* Better Off Dead (1985)
* Hot Resort (1985)
* Happy Together (1989)
* The Big Picture (1989)
* Listen to Me (1989)
* Good Burger (1997)