MICHAEL LEMBECK made his feature film directing debut in 2002 with the hit Tim Allen comedy, The Santa Clause 2, which grossed more than $140 million at the domestic box office. He also directed Nia Vardalos and Toni Colette in the comedy Connie and Carla released earlier this year.

Lembeck, is a veteran of television comedy. As an actor, he appeared in over 200 episodes of half-hour comedy television. As a director, he has helmed nearly 300 episodes of television during his career. Among the awards for directing he has received is the Emmy Award in 1996 for Best Direction of a Comedy Series for his work on Friends, one of three Emmy nominations he has received for his work on that show. He lists as some of his other television directing credits multiple episodes of Mad About You, with Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser; and the pilot and episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Lembeck is a second generation with a comedy tradition and followed his father, Harvey, into the theater. Harvey Lembeck starred in both the Broadway play and movie Stalag 17 as Harry Shapiro, and had a long and illustrious career as one of Broadway