Barry W. Blaustein Biography

Fast Facts

• At the 2000 XSW Film Festival, he won the Audience Award for Documentary Feature-First Film for "Beyond the Mat․"
• His documentary "Beyond the Mat" won Best Documentary and an Honorable Mention as an Audience Favorite Choice for Documentary Feature at the 2000 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival
• Started his career as a writer for comedy television series such as "The Mike Douglas Show" and "Saturday Night Live․"
• Has written a number of comedy films that Eddie Murphy has starred in, including "Coming to America" and "The Nutty Professor․"
• Prefers directing to writing, but especially likes documentaries because he feels it allows him to do both at the same time
• Has a self-described love/embarrassment relationship with wrestling, claiming that he enjoys the entertainment value but doesn't always want people to know he's watching it
• While working on his documentary about wrestling, "Beyond the Mat," one wrestler threw a garbage can at him and his camera man, then quickly apologized