Jared and Jerusha Hess

Jared Lawrence Hess (born July 18, 1979) and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess ( Demke, born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared (Nacho Libre was co-written by Mike White). For their film , they were nominated for the .
They also produced music videos for 's third single, "," and Christmas charity single "Boots."
==Personal life==
Jerusha was born in , and Jared was born in . Jared attended in for two years before transferring to in , from which he graduated in 1997. Many scenes from Napoleon Dynamite were filmed there. As a teenager Jared worked in film production with .
The Hesses have four children. The family are members of .
==Career==
Jared met Jerusha while attending 's (BYU) film school. Together they co-wrote the film Napoleon Dynamite, which was produced and edited by their classmate .
While at BYU, Jared wrote and directed a student film entitled Cardboard Only, which is about a seven-year-old Idaho farm boy who struggles to escape boredom while wearing a cardboard box over his head. While at BYU, Jared also wrote and directed a short film entitled , which become a prototype for Napoleon Dynamite and feature much of the same cast and plotline, including as Seth, "super nerd extraordinaire."
Besides Napoleon Dynamite and Peluca, Jared has worked as a camera assistant in a number of films and has played minor roles in a few comedies. These include , and . Their second movie Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black, was released on June 16, 2006.
The third major film made by the Hesses, , was released in 2009. It is about a teenager who aspires to be a writer, but after attending a fantasy-writer's convention, he finds that his idea has been stolen by an established novelist. The film stars as the teenager, as the established novelist, and as the story's fictional title character who appears in book-come-to-life sequences.
In 2010, Jared created ads for the which were run on the radio, but refused on television. The Utah State Fair representatives claimed they refused to run them due to sexual overtones, while Hess claimed the failure to run the ads was because the main actor in them, Markus T. Boddie, was an African-American.
In 2011, Jerusha directed a of the book , which was released in 2013. She also co-wrote the screenplay.
Jared and Jerusha Hess are also among the executive producers of the series that aired 2012. In addition, Jared voice pad Don Moser, a returning character originally portrayed by Trevor Snarr in the film.
Jared directed the comedy heist film (2016).
Jared was among the executive producers for the Tv series , which premiered in 2017.
In 2019, it was announced that Jared would direct with Lynn Wang an animated musical movie adaptation of for Netflix. Both Jared and Jerusha would write it.
Jared co-directed (with Tyler Measom) a true crime docu-series , which premiered on Netflix on March 3, 2021.
In 2022, it was announced that Jared will direct the film adaptation of for , with starring.
==Filmography==
===Film===
*Nacho Libre (2006) - director, writer
Category:People
Category:1970s births
Category:1980s births
Category:Directors
Category:Writers