Harvey Weinstein Trivia: 35 facts about the American film producer

Harvey Weinstein is an American film producer and former film studio executive. He and his brother Bob Weinstein co-founded Miramax, which produced several popular independent films including Pulp Fiction; Clerks; The Crying Game; and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

1. He was born on March 19, 1952.

2. Weinstein was born in the Flushing section of the New York City borough of Queens, to a Jewish family.

3. His maternal grandparents were Polish immigrants.

4. He grew up with his younger brother, Bob Weinstein, in a housing co-op named Electchester in New York City.

5. He graduated from John Bowne High School and the University at Buffalo.

6. Weinstein, his brother Bob, and Corky Burger independently produced rock concerts as Harvey & Corky Productions in Buffalo through most of the 1970s.

7. He and his brother Bob Weinstein co-founded Miramax, which produced several popular independent films including Pulp Fiction; Clerks; The Crying Game; and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

8. Due to numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape against him, Harvey Weinstein was fired by his own company’s board of directors and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

9. His and his brother’s company Miramax, was named after their parents, Miriam and Max.

10. Miramax was made of using profits from their previous concert promotion business.

11. In the early 1980s, Miramax acquired the rights to two British films of benefit shows filmed for the human rights organization Amnesty International.

12.After the success of The Crying Game, Disney offered the Weinsteins $80 million for ownership of Miramax.

13. Miramax won its first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1997 with the victory of The English Patient.

14. The Weinstein brothers left Miramax on September 30, 2005, to form their own production company, The Weinstein Company.

15. He won an Academy Award for Producing the 1998 Film ‘Shakespeare in Love’

16. Harvey Weinstein married fashion designer Georgina Chapman in 2007.

17. They have two children together.

18. The character Harvey Weingard in the HBO hit “Entourage” was reportedly based on Harvery Weinstein.

19. In January, Vanity Fair reported that Obama’s eldest daughter, Malia, was going to intern for Weinstein before heading off to her first year at Harvard University.

20. Matt Damon and Russell Crowe allegedly had been covering up for him all these years.

21. Weinstein has been active on issues such as poverty, AIDS, juvenile diabetes, and multiple sclerosis research.

22. He serves on the Board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City-based non-profit that targets poverty, and co-chaired one of its annual benefits.

23. Weinstein is a longtime supporter and contributor to the Democratic Party including the campaigns of President Barack Obama and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry.

24. Weinstein was active in the fashion industry. He produced Project Runway, the fashion reality show.

25. He made stars of designer Michael Kors, model Heidi Klum and editor Nina Garcia.

26. Weinstein’s right eye was injured in an accident when he was 12 years old.

27. Weinstein has been married twice. In 1987, he married his assistant Eve Chilton. They divorced in 2004.

28. He has three children with his first wife.

29. On October 10, 2017, Chapman announced she was leaving Weinstein after the sexual harassment accusations. She meant it.

30. In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that more than a dozen women accused Weinstein of sexually harassing, assaulting, or raping them. Many other women in the film industry subsequently reported similar experiences with Weinstein, who denied any non-consensual sex.

31. His net worth is estimated around £153 million.

32. He is (was?) considered to be one of the most powerful men in Hollywood.

33. Claims from various women included offers of career advancement in exchange for sex, forced massages and incidents in which he was alleged to have fully exposed himself.

34. US President Donald Trump has waded into the story – saying he was not surprised by the allegations levelled against the Hollywood heavyweight.

35. The 65-year-old’s firm is now said to be in the hands of his brother, Bob Weinstein and chief operating officer David Glasser.