American director and producerMichael Bay started his career directing music videos and commercials. This included a commercial for theAmerican Red Cross in 1992 which received a Clio Award, and music videos forDonny Osmond,Styx andMeat Loaf.Jerry Bruckheimer recognizing his achievements on commercials offered the chance to direct one of his productions as Bay's feature film debut.^[1] Bay did so with Bruckheimer'saction comedyBad Boys starringWill Smith, andMartin Lawrence. In the same year he also received aDirectors Guild of America Award for his work on commercials.^[2] Bay followed this withaction filmThe Rock starringSean Connery, andNicolas Cage. The film was a commercial success grossing over $335 million at the worldwide box office.^[3] In 1998, he directed, and produced thescience fiction disaster filmArmageddon which was the highest-grossing film of the year,^[4] and Bay received theSaturn Award for Best Director.^[5] After the success ofArmageddon he also became the youngest director to gross $1 billion at the worldwide box office.^[6][7]

Three years later he directed and produced the war filmPearl Harbor (2001) which was negatively received by critics^[8] but grossed over $449 million at the box office.^[9] Later in the same year, Bay founded his own production companyPlatinum Dunes withBrad Fuller, andAndrew Form.^[10] In 2003, Bay directed the action comedy sequelBad Boys II which saw Smith and Lawrence reprise their roles.^[11] Two years later he directed science fiction action filmThe Island (2005), and produced the horror remakeThe Amityville Horror (2005).^[12]

In 2007, Bay directed, and produced the first film inthe live-actionTransformers film series based on thetoy line of the same name. It was a commercial success grossing over $709 million at the box office.^[13] He followed this by directing its sequelTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The film drew negative reception from critics^[14] but grossed over $836 million at the box office.^[15] The third installment in the seriesTransformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) became the first of his films to gross over $1 billion at the box office.^[16] Two years later Bay directed and produced crime comedyPain & Gain (2013). From 2014 to 2017, he executive produced the television seriesBlack Sail forStarz. In 2014, he directed, and produced a fourth Transformer film,Transformers: Age of Extinction, which grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and was the highest-grossing film at the worldwide box office that year.^[17] Three years later, he directed the fifth entry in theTransformers film series,Transformers: The Last Knight which received generally negative reviews from critics and was the lowest-grossing worldwide in the franchise's history.^[18][19]

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• Michael Bay's unrealized projects

• Michael Bay filmography atIMDb

• Michael Bay
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