James Mangold (born December 16, 1963) also produced and directed pilots for the television series Men in Trees (which ran from 2006 to 2008) NYC 22 (2011–2012) and Vegas (2012–2013). Mangold was born in New York City, and is the son of artists Robert Mangold and Sylvia Plimack Mangold. His mother is Jewish and he describes himself as "half-Jewish." In 1985, Mangold secured a writer/director deal at Disney. He wrote a television movie and co-wrote the animated feature Oliver and Company. A few years later, Mangold moved to New York and applied to Columbia University's film school, where he graduated with an MFA in film. While there, he studied under Miloš Forman and developed both Heavy and Cop Land. He has worked as a feature writer and director since 1995, when his first feature, the independent film Heavy, won the best directing prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Mangold subsequently wrote and directed Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta; Girl, Interrupted, which won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1999 for Angelina Jolie; Kate & Leopold, starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, for which Jackman was nominated for a Golden Globe as best actor in a musical or comedy in 2001, and the 2003 thriller Identity which starred John Cusack.

For more information press link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mangold