ICE Awards Luncheon Keynote Speaker

Rob Hardy
co-Founder of Rainforest Films

Rob Hardy is a director, writer, producer and co-founder of the Atlanta based production company, Rainforest Films. Along with his business partner, Will Packer, Hardy has catapulted Rainforest Films into mainstream success earning numerous honors and recognitions. In 2011 Hardy and Packer joined forces with Ambassador Andrew Young and and Martin Luther King III to launch BOUNCE TV, the first ever over-the-air broadcast television network targeting the African-American audience.

Hardy began his career, during his Senior-year in high school, with the camcorder-shot movie G-Man. While pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Florida A & M University, he made the leap to film with the low-budget motion picture Chocolate City. Hardy has written, directed and produced numerous movies and shows throughout the years. Some of Rainforest Films include Takers, This Christmas, Stomp the Yard, and Trois.

2011 was another monumental year for Rainforest Films. As a Director, Hardy broke into network television with his January 2008 directorial debut of the Emmy Award winning show ER. CBS series Criminal Minds and subsequently the spin off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior. In 2010 Hardy began directing episodes of Vampire Diaries and 90210 for the CW Network and Bones for FOX Television

Hardy’s latest project is executive producing and wrapping production on the film adaptation of Steve Harvey’s best selling book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like a Man, (opening in theaters early 2012). Hardy is married and is the father of two, and a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.

website | www.rainforestproductions.com