Shawn Levy

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Lore & Background

Levy founded his production company, originally incorporated as Wunjo, Inc. in 1999, and rebranded it to 21 Laps Entertainment in 2005. The company has produced films like Cheaper by the Dozen, The Spectacular Now, Real Steel, Arrival, and the Night at the Museum franchise, as well as Levy's collaborations with actor and producer Ryan Reynolds, which include Free Guy, The Adam Project and Deadpool & Wolverine. The company exclusively distributes content through a partnership with Netflix, and in 2020 signed a first look deal with Netflix.

In Their Own Story

The director's chair sat empty in the quiet editing room, but the air still hummed with the static of a thousand paper pages turning. Outside the window, the fictional town of Madison sat under a gray sky, waiting for the ink to dry. Inside, the magic of Shawn Levy's vision lingered—a reminder that even after the credits roll and the monsters retreat back into the book, the story never truly ends; it just waits for someone else to turn the page.

Reader's Guide

He made his breakout role as a film director on Big Fat Liar, Just Married, and Cheaper by the Dozen. In 2003, after the success of his aforementioned feature films, Levy launched his own production company with a first-look deal at 20th Century Fox Television. The deal was to produce half-hour sitcoms and hour-long dramas. In 2010, Levy and Marty Adelstein signed on to form a television company called 21 Laps/Adelstein Productions, and they signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television. In July 2016, one of the company's television projects, Stranger Things, premiered on Netflix and achieved critical acclaim, earning a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with 55 out of 58 reviews being positive. The show's first season was also one of Netflix's most watched series, averaging 14.07 million adults 18–49 in its first 35 days. Along with producing the series, Levy directed two of the premiere season's episodes. The third season premiered on July 4, 2019 and the fourth season premiered in two parts on May 27, 2022 and July 1, 2022. It was renewed for a fifth and final season.

Did You Know?

• The company's name, 21 Laps Entertainment, originates from the number of laps Levy's eldest daughter ran in a jogathon when she was 5 years old.
• Levy founded his production company in 1999 under the name Wunjo, Inc., and rebranded it to 21 Laps Entertainment in 2005.
• Levy's company exclusively distributes content through a partnership with Netflix, and signed a first look deal with Netflix in 2020.
• Stranger Things, produced by Levy's company, earned a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with 55 out of 58 reviews being positive for its first season.
• In January 2026, Netflix announced that Levy's company would be producing a new hockey themed original series that received similarities to the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash.