Wikipedia Bio / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Tony Puryear is a writer, comic creator and artist, originally from New York.
- He is most well-known for writing the script of Eraser in 1996, a large budget Hollywood blockbuster, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Tony Puryear grew up in New York to parents, who were both artists.
- As a child, he was an avid comic fan & despite his mother disapproving of his comic reading, he continued to read them secretly throughout his childhood.
- Puryear feels these early days of comic reading is what taught him about storytelling and directly influenced his career later in life as a comic creator.
- Tony married American actress Erika Rose Alexander in 1997, with their relationship ending twenty years later in 2017. Besides their romantic relationship, the pair also collaborated on an award-winning graphic novel series Concrete Park.
- He currently lives in Los Angeles.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Puryear studied at Brown University. He also attended The Walt Disney Company’s Writers Fellowship, in which he was part of its inaugural class.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- Tony first pursued a career as a chef, reaching an award-winning standard at an early age. Catching the eye of an advertising executive for the presentation of his food, he was hired as an art director for a number of TV commercials. A couple of these ads for Burger King and Goodyear, also won some awards.
- Puryear then went on to direct music videos for music artists such as K-Solo, EPMD and LL Cool J.
- In 1996, Puryear wrote the script for Eraser, a $100 million summer blockbuster starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This launched his screenwriting career and he has since written scripts for big stars like Oliver Stone, Mel Gibson, Jerry Bruckheimer and Will Smith.
- Between 2002 and 2003, Tony wrote for the TV series Street Time. He was also a staff writer for the American series Queen of the South.
- Besides pursuing a career in film and television, Tony has also co-written and drawn Concrete Park, a critically acclaimed graphic novel series. This project was made in collaboration with Erika Alexander, to whom he was also married.
- One of his recent projects, Gangkstas! is a political art series that follows the “Trump Crime Family” as they scheme and takeover the American government.
Fun Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Concrete Park was initiated by Erika’s brother, who came up with the title.
- Tony is a fan of films such as Trainspotting and European film movements such as the French New Wave. He is also very inspired by comic writers and creators such as Jack Kirby, who despite leading creative careers, managed to support their families from them through prolific creation.
- When the film Bladerunner came out in 1982, Puryear watched it over 40 times just to try understand what it was about the film that made him like it. He attributes the film to leading him to want to make movies.
