Colin Trevorrow

Trevorrow was born in San Francisco, California. He was raised in Oakland, California. His father was a musician in a country rock band and his mother was a photographer who also operated a day-care center. His maternal grandmother was of Sephardic Jewish ancestry; her ancestors settled in the Caribbean several centuries ago.

As a boy, he sang in the chorus of the San Francisco Opera. As a teenager, Trevorrow won awards from the Mill Valley Film Festival and the San Francisco Youth Film Festival. Trevorrow graduated from Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California and later graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1999.In 2002, he wrote and directed his first short film, Home Base; as of 2012, it had received over 20 million hits online. Trevorrow's first theatrical release was with Reality Show, a 2004 documentary film about the failed production of a reality television show. Trevorrow sold his first spec script titled Tester to DreamWorks in 2006. In 2008, he paired up with Derek Connolly, ten years after they had first met as NYU students while working as interns on Saturday Night Live, to write a buddy cop film script called Cocked and Loaded. Trevorrow said that the experience was so enjoyable that he decided to give up solo screenwriting and work with Connolly.

In 2012, Trevorrow directed Safety Not Guaranteed, a film inspired by a classified advertisement which ran in a 1997 issue of Backwoods Home Magazine that read: "Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322, Oakview, CA 93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before." The script was by Connolly, who intended for Trevorrow to direct it. The film received various accolades, including a nomination for Trevorrow for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, where it picked up the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. After the release of Safety Not Guaranteed, Trevorrow and Connolly were hired by the Walt Disney Company to write an as-yet unmade remake of the film Flight of the Navigator (1986). Trevorrow co-wrote and directed Jurassic World (2015), and also provided his voice for the film's character of Mr. DNA. Connolly and Trevorrow also co-wrote the screenplay for its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which was released in June 2018 and for which Trevorrow is an executive producer.

After Jurassic World, Trevorrow next directed The Book of Henry, which was written by Gregg Hurwitz. The film was released by Focus Features on June 16, 2017, to generally negative reviews, although Trevorrow stood by the film.

In March 2015, it was announced that Trevorrow would be directing the sci-fi thriller film Intelligent Life, which was bought by DreamWorks. Trevorrow wrote the screenplay with Connolly, while Trevorrow, Frank Marshall, Big Beach, and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment were announced as producing the film. While there has been other production news since, including Ava DuVernay being attached to direct, as of December 2019 the film has not entered into production.

In August 2015, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn announced that Trevorrow would direct Star Wars: Episode IX (2019). Trevorrow and Connolly subsequently began writing the script for the film; titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates. However, in August 2017, writer Jack Thorne was brought in to rewrite the script due to dissatisfaction by Lucasfilm with their script. By September 2017, Trevorrow was let go from the project due to creative differences and was replaced as director by Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J. J. Abrams, who co-wrote the script with Chris Terrio. However, Trevorrow and Connolly still received story writing credit in addition to Abrams and Terrio. Trevorrow donated residuals he earned from the film to charity.

On March 30, 2018, it was announced that Trevorrow would be returning to the Jurassic Park franchise, directing Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

On March 16, 2021, it was announced that Trevorrow would direct War Magician, a historical war film about Jasper Maskelyne, a British illusionist who used magic to defeat Nazis in World War II. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star.

On February 5, 2023, it was revealed that Trevorrow would direct and produce a film titled Atlantis for Universal Pictures. Charmaine DeGraté is set to write the script.

On February 12, 2024, it was announced by Collider that, alongside Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedev, Trevorrow would produce Trash Mountain, a film about a young gay man from Chicago returning to his rural Missouri to deal with his father's hoarder state after the latter's death. Lilly Wachowski is set to direct the film, Caleb Hearon and Ruby Caster are set to write the script and Hearon will star likewise.