Marc Clebanoff, a graduate of the USC School of Cinema / Television, began his career at 20th Century Fox Television before moving onto a feature development position at USA Films (now Focus Features) under the award winning director of Nurse Betty and Lakeview Terrace Neil Labute. In 1999 Clebanoff established his own company, Marathon Films, in which he developed several feature projects with Hollywood bad-boy actor Michael Madsen, and cult filmmaker Larry Bishop (son of Rat Pack comedian Joey Bishop).
In 2004, Marc renamed his company Odyssey Motion Pictures to make his feature directorial debut with Unspoken - a dark drama starring Justin Allen and William Sadler, which earned Best Screenplay and Best Feature Film nominations at various festivals throughout 2006. Also in 2006, Clebanoff wrote, produced and co-directed the star-studded award-winning dark comedy feature The Pink Conspiracy, which enjoyed its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May of 2007 and was released theatrically in select cities in September of 2008.
Clebanoff spent two years (2006-2008) consulting for Quentin Tarantino’s indie motorcycle flick Hell Ride, which premiered at Sundance in 2008. In 2008 Clebanoff wrote and directed Break, a star-studded, 5 time award-winning dramatic action film, which was released theatrically in select cities in May & June of 2009 and was released worldwide on DVD in July of 2009. In addition, Clebanoff recently finished directing the family comedy feature film Gerald, starring Louis Mandylor & Mickey Rooney, which garnered him a Best Director award and will be released early in 2010. Clebanoff just finished the script for Exit 102, an American Graffiti-esque film being executive produced by legendary producer Robert Evans, and Clebanoff is also set to direct the new Goodfellas follow-up film The Cigar Game in 2010.
Clebanoff holds a 2nd degree black belt in traditional Korean martial arts and is an avid distance runner and accomplished marathoner. He is also the grandson of world-renowned musician and composer, Herman Clebanoff.