Dean Devlin

Devlin's father, Don Devlin (1930–2000), an actor turned writer-producer who was noted for discovering Steven Spielberg, was Jewish, and his mother, Pilar Seurat, was a Filipino actress.

Film

Devlin appeared as an actor on numerous television shows throughout the 1980s. He also appeared in films, including My Bodyguard, The Wild Life, Real Genius, and Martians Go Home. Due to his youthful appearance, Devlin often played teenage characters despite being in his 20s.

Devlin gradually began writing scripts. His first produced screenplay was for Universal Soldier. He reached prominence as a writer/producer working alongside director Roland Emmerich, with whom he teamed after appearing in Emmerich's film Moon 44. Together they cowrote and produced Stargate, the first movie to have a web site. The team then produced Independence Day and Godzilla. They split following the 2000 Mel Gibson film The Patriot, but re-teamed to film Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016. Devlin also produced Cellular, Who Killed the Electric Car?, and Flyboys.

Devlin's directorial debut was the action sci-fi film Geostorm for Warner Bros. The film was set for a March 2016 release, later rescheduled for October 2017. It starred Gerard Butler as the lead with Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris and Andy Garcia. The film made $221 million on a $120 million budget. In March 2018, Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost Warner Bros. $71.6 million when factoring in all other expenses and revenues.

Devlin's second film as director was the 2018 thriller Bad Samaritan, starring Robert Sheehan and David Tennant.

Devlin is married to actress Lisa Brenner. Their daughter, Hannah Devlin, is also an actress who guest-starred in Devlin's TV series The Librarians: The Next Chapter.