CHRISTOPHER GUEST (Writer/Director/Alan Barrows) has acted, written and composed for theater, radio, television and film. In the late 1960s he worked as a stage actor in New York before he began writing for National Lampoon magazine in 1970. In 1974 and 1975 he worked on National Lampoon's Radio Hour and made five albums, three of which were nominated for Grammys®. His television writing credits include The TV Show (with Rob Reiner), The Chevy Chase Special and The Lily Tomlin Show, for which he received an Emmy® Award.

He directed his first feature film in 1989, The Big Picture, starring Kevin Bacon, and went on to direct Waiting for Guffman and Almost Heroes (with Chris Farley) before Best in Show. A Mighty Wind marks the third film that re-teams Guest with writing partner Eugene Levy.

Guest was a member of the Saturday Night Live ensemble cast for a season in 1984-85, and has acted in over a dozen films including A Few Good Men, The Long Riders, The Princess Bride, Little Shop of Horrors, This is Spinal Tap and of course, Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.



KAREN MURPHY (Producer) started her filmmaking career in the documentary world and first transitioned into feature films when she produced Rob Reiner's documentary-style comedy, This Is Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap was a huge cult hit and was recently distinguished when it was added to the National Registry of the Library of Congress.

Ms. Murphy followed her first success with several other critically-acclaimed pictures including Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy, starring Matt Dillon and Heather Graham; David Byrne's highly-lauded first feature, True Stories, starring John Goodman; and the indie favorite Twenty Bucks, directed by Keva Rosenfeld, starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Elisabeth Shue. A Mighty Wind is Murphy's third collaboration with Christopher Guest; she has previously produced the cult favorite Waiting for Guffman and the box-office hit Best in Show.

Her television credits include the premiere episode of Showtime's Likely Stories, which featured comedy shorts by Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer, an HBO pilot about the entertainment business written by and starring Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest, the Saturday Night Live program The Secret Life of Mr. Ed, directed by Michael Lehmann and the ABC/ Disney animation/live-action program, One Saturday Morning.

Five years ago, Ms. Murphy co-founded the Nashville Screenwriters Conference, an annual forum that provides a creative and supportive environment to promote the interaction between professional and aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers and songwriters.

Working on A Mighty Wind has been a wonderful experience for Ms. Murphy as she grew up surrounded by folk music - her father was a talented musician who could play any instrument he touched, and this type of music has always held a special place in her life.



ARLENE DONNELLY NELSON (Director of Photography) made her feature- length cinematographer/ director debut with Naked States, an award-winning documentary licensed by HBO as part of its America Undercover series. Naked States chronicles artist Spencer Tunick's cross-country journey as he persuaded people of all shapes and sizes out of their clothes and into the streets, photographing a nude in each of the 50 states. Nelson's latest documentary Naked World is a sequel on Tunick, following him as he turns his lens on the world. Nelson traveled to all seven continents documenting Tunick at work while also telling the unique and often profound stories of the every day people who decided to pose for him. The focus in the sequel is on the cultural differences and the perception of nudity in art, in public, and in people's personal lives.

Nelson is a self-taught cinematographer with degrees in Philosophy and Fine Art Photography. She served as cinematographer on Voices of Women, an independent documentary focusing on the Worldwide Women's Conference in Beijing, China. The film reached thousands of women as it toured the country and was screened at the White House.

Nelson shot and directed an industrial film for Roche Diagnostics incorporating cinema verité and several in-depth personal interviews. Nelson has been shooting and bringing her visual style to ad campaigns including AT&T, Rockport Shoes, Hewlett Packard and Blue Cross Blue Shield for a decade now.

Having worked as a cinematographer for commercials, music videos, and documentaries, Nelson brings her wealth of technical knowledge, creative history and progressive vision to each project.



JOSEPH T. GARRITY (Production Designer) has collaborated with Christopher Guest on six different projects including Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, Almost Heroes, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman and The Big Picture.

Garrity's other credits include over twenty feature films such as Weeds, Twenty Bucks, Imaginary Crimes, Disney's Son-In-Law, My Girl and Stuart Saves his Family, directed by Harold Ramis.

Garrity's most recent projects were Not Another Teen Movie and Speaking of Sex, directed by John McNaughton and starring Bill Murray, James Spader and Catherine O'Hara.



ROBERT LEIGHTON (Editor) has collaborated with filmmaker Rob Reiner on each of his feature directorial efforts. Those films include This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery, A Few Good Men, North, The American President, Ghosts of Mississippi and The Story of Us. He received an Oscar® nomination for his work on A Few Good Men.

Other motion picture credits include Christopher Guest's Best in Show, two Ron Shelton films, Bull Durham and Blaze, Life with Mikey, Courage Under Fire and Wavelength.

Leighton was born in London, where he studied his craft at the London Film School. He first worked for the BBC as an assistant editor before emigrating to the U.S. in 1975.



C.J. VANSTON (Composer) has previously worked with Christopher Guest as the composer/producer on his films Best in Show, Almost Heroes, and Waiting for Guffman. Vanston has also contributed music to the films Sweet Home Alabama, If These Walls Could Talk 2, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Arachnophobia and Straight Talk, among many others.

As an arranger and session keyboardist, Vanston has worked with producers Desmond Child, Ed Cherney, David Foster, Phil Ramone, Don Was, Humberto Gattica, Greg Ladanyi, Prince, Chris Lord Alge, David Cole and K.C. Porter. He has also appeared on numerous artists' albums, including arranging and performing on N'Sync's Billboard #1 hit "This I Promise You" as well as contributions to albums by Tina Turner, Hole, Joe Cocker, Ringo Starr, Spinal Tap, Celine Dion, Jann Arden, Melissa Etheridge, Brian Wilson, Barbra Streisand, Bob Seger, Kenny Loggins, Chris Botti, David Crosby, Dolly Parton, Afghan Wigs, B.B. King, Hanson and Julio Iglesias.

Songwriting is another of Vanston's pursuits, and he has collaborated with Paul Williams, Bernie Taupin, Shelly Peiken, Desmond Child, Tony Jo White, John Shanks and Tonio K.