Walter F. Parkes

Producer. Born 15 April 1951 in Bakersfield, California, USA.

Titles on Fi1m1 writing · 17 producing

Average Fi1m scoreas producer · 17 titles

Oscar nominations

Born

15 April 1951, Bakersfield, California, USA

Active

1983–present

Frequently works with

Laurie MacDonald, Barry Sonnenfeld, Steven Spielberg, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Jeff Nathanson, John Logan, Lawrence Lasker

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Biography

Walter F. Parkes is an American film producer, screenwriter and media executive. Born on 15 April 1951 in Bakersfield, California, he graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1973. He began his career with the documentary The California Reich (1975), which he directed, produced and edited.

Parkes co-produced Awakenings (1990) with Lawrence Lasker and later produced Men in Black (1997). He has been nominated for three Academy Awards: for The California Reich, the screenplay for WarGames (1983), and as producer of Awakenings. With his wife and frequent collaborator Laurie MacDonald, he helped establish DreamWorks SKG's motion picture division and later served as president of Amblin Entertainment. They founded Parkes + MacDonald Productions and, in 2016, co-founded the virtual reality company Dreamscape Immersive, where Parkes is co-chairman.

Compiled from published sources (en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com) · 13 September 2026How we write and check