Birthday: Apr 9, 1968

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Biography: Born in 1968 in Chicago, the Tamil-American writer/director Jay
Chandrasekhar ignited his show-business career as the most active
contributor to the five-member Broken Lizard sketch comedy team.
Chandrasekhar -- a graduate of Lake Forest Academy -- attended Colgate
University in the early '90s, where he met his contemporary Lizardians
Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. The troupe
initially christened itself "Charred Goosebeak," but quickly went with the
name "B... ... (read more...) roken Lizard" instead. Club dates and, eventually, two feature
films ensued, the 1996 Puddle Cruiser and the 2001 Super Troopers;
Chandrasekhar took the director's chair for each. Rife with sight gags,
scatological puns, double entendres, and slapstick, the movies (which
premiered at Sundance) suggested influences by such laff-fests as the
Police Academy series and the "Kentucky Fried Theater" films. Fox
Searchlight picked up Super Troopers and it made indie box-office gold; a
2004 follow-up, the less successful slapstick/horror hybrid Broken
Lizard's Club Dread, followed. At this point, Hollywood acknowledged
Chandrasekhar's talent, not only by inviting him as a guest director to
helm episodes of such hit series as Arrested Development, Undeclared, and
Cracking Up, but via an invitation to direct the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard
update, co-starring Jessica Simpson, Johnny Knoxville, Seann William
Scott, Burt Reynolds, and, in supporting roles, additional members of the
Broken Lizard team. The film revealed that Chandrasekhar had his hand on
the audience's pulse -- unlike the director's prior motion pictures, it
soared to number one across America (despite critical pans). Chandrasekhar
then announced work on a fourth Broken Lizard vehicle, Beerfest, another
wild comedy, about a couple of Americans who travel to Deutschland for the
Oktoberfest. Chandrasekhar is married to the actress Susan Clarke; they
have one child.