William M. Connor

William M. Connor’s got his fingerprints all over some of the biggest movies of the last few decades. Seriously, look up any classic from the ‘90s or 2000s—odds are, he’s somewhere in the credits. He’s this behind-the-scenes powerhouse—producer, first assistant director, the guy who basically keeps the whole circus on track while juggling a million things. Think of films like As Good As It Gets, Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, Salt, and The Other Guys. Not exactly amateur hour, right? He teamed up with Ang Lee on Life of Pi, which went and snagged four Oscars. No big deal. Plus, Connor’s work on Apollo 13 with Ron Howard landed him a Director’s Guild of America award. That’s not just a pat on the back—people in the biz actually know his name, which is saying something for someone not always in the spotlight. Ron Howard and Connor are basically filmmaking soulmates at this point—they’ve worked together on something like seventeen projects. Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, 13 Lives, you name it. And apparently, they’re not slowing down, with another wild survival thriller called Eden coming up. But go back even further and you’ll find him on Scent of a Woman and The American President. The man’s been in the game a long time. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he’s got that classic New York edge, and he’s a Syracuse Newhouse grad, so yeah, he’s got the creds as well as the street smarts. That’s Connor for you—always in the thick of it, making movie magic happen.