Jan de Bont (born October 22, 1943) is a Dutch cinematographer, producer, and film director.
De Bont was born, one of 17 children, to a Roman Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands. His earliest work after studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy was with the Dutch avant garde director Adriaan Ditvoorst. De Bont was cinematographer/cameraman on many of Ditvoorst's early films including the prizewinning 'Ik Kom Wat Later Naar Madra' (I'll Be In Madra Somewhat Later). He first came to fame in the Netherlands as the cinematographer for the 1973 movie Turkish Delight, directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Since the early 1980s, he worked frequently in Hollywood.
De Bont made his directorial debut with Speed in 1994, which was a success. He followed this up with Twister in 1996.
He was married to Dutch actress Monique van de Ven from 1973 to 1988. Monique starred in the 1973 film Turkish Delight, for which De Bont did the cinematography. De Bont has two children from his second marriage with Trish Reeves, Alexander (who had a part in Speed 2) and An.
Jan de Bont was born in the Netherlands to a Roman Catholic Dutch family on the 22 of October 1943. He has always had a creative mind and good mentality for camera techniques and soon got into film as a popular cinematographer. He worked on a huge number of films before finding himself on the production of the film Speed (1994/I), which became his first as a director. The film was a success and took him onto the next set for Twister (1996), which he also directed. But then the total flops started coming his way: firstly, Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), which he wrote and directed but without the company of Keanu Reeves. He also directed the star-packed Haunting, The (1999) but that also failed him at the Box Office. Later, Jan directed Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), and is still active in cinema. His brilliant direction of Speed (1994/I) proves he is a director with a spark of his own.
