Timothy A. Chey

Timothy Chey is kind of a legend in faith-based filmmaking—seriously, the dude’s cranked out more than 15 feature films and somehow managed to make them both box office hits and festival darlings. Just look at his credits: “Freedom” (yeah, the one with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Sharon Leal), “David and Goliath,” “The Genius Club,” “Suing the Devil,” “Fakin’ Da Funk”—if you grew up in the ’90s, that one’s probably hiding in your memory somewhere—plus “Slamma Jamma,” “The Islands,” “20 Minutes,” and “Interview with the Antichrist.” The cast lists for these movies read like a wild Who’s Who of Hollywood, from Tom Sizemore and Stephen Baldwin to Pam Grier and Michael Irvin. Even Jose Canseco pops up. Wild, right? Chey’s not just a filmmaker with a camera and a dream, either. Dude’s got degrees from Harvard, USC Film School, and Boston University School of Law. So he’s basically the overachiever your mom wishes you’d marry. His stuff’s been splashed all over E! Entertainment, The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, MTV, and more. The reach? We’re talking 200 million homes worldwide. Not a typo—200 million. Universal, Sony, Paramount, Showtime…you name a big distributor, he’s probably worked with them. And then, as if he isn’t busy enough, Chey does pro-bono legal work, helping the Union Rescue Mission and taking on consumer advocacy cases. Guy’s actually won a bunch of big court cases, too. So yeah, if you’re talking faith-based film powerhouses in the U.S., Chey’s name is at the top of the list, no question.