Peter O’Brian

Born in Toronto, Peter O’Brian grew up in England but moved back to the city of his birth in 1959. He briefly attended the University of Toronto and then moved on to Emerson College in Boston to study film production, graduating in 1969 with a double major in mass communications and film. He returned to Toronto and first worked as an assistant director and production manager while developing scripts he could produce. The first film he produced on his own was the Dan Aykroyd vehicle Love at First Sight. He founded Independent Pictures in 1977 and went on to produce films that won a total of nineteen Genie Awards. Two of them, The Grey Fox (1982) and My American Cousin (1985) earned the Best Picture Genie. The poster for The Grey Fox was scanned from an original in the Northernstars Collection. In 2005 O’Brian accepted the position as chair of the board of TVOntario.

Also see: Peter O’Brian’s Tribute to Philip Borsos.

Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release

Me (co-producer, 1975)
Love at First Sight (1976)
Outrageous! (associate producer, 1977)
Blood & Guts (1978)
Fast Company (co-producer, 1979)

The Grey Fox (1982)
My American Cousin (1985)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
Discovery (1986)
John and the Missus (1986)
Milk and Honey (1988)

Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)

The Art of Woo (executive producer, 2001)
Khaled (executive producer. 2001)
Hollywood North (co-executive producer, 2003)

Credits as a Director:
Hollywood North (2003)