Rob Bowman

Rob Stanton Bowman (; born May 15, 1960) is an American director. He grew up around film and television production, and developed an interest in the field because of the work of his father, director Chuck Bowman. Bowman is a prolific director for television, and has contributed to series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The X-Files, for which he received four consecutive Emmy nominations as a producer. He was an executive producer and director for the comedy drama Castle.

Bowman has directed four feature films: Airborne, The X-Files, Reign of Fire, and Elektra.

Early life and education Bowman grew up around film and television production. His father, Chuck Bowman, is a filmmaker who became active in the industry when Rob was an adolescent. Bowman first became fascinated with the process of filmmaking when he saw The Wizard of Oz as a child. Growing up, he watched his father make commercials and documentaries, often acting as an assistant crew member. Bowman said that conversations with his father enabled him to see how the hard work of a filmmaking crew becomes invisible when the film is made. He said, "what remains are the emotions and the drama of the story and the characters. What remains is the magic."

In his late teens, he moved to Utah, where he became a "ski bum", and worked as a bartender. After writing, producing and directing a story for a film production class at the University of Utah, Bowman knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. "It became as clear to me as a Fourth of July fireworks display that was where my passion was," he said. Bowman moved to Los Angeles, and got a job at Stephen Cannell Productions, starting in the mail room. He took film classes, and studied film directors, developing a sense of his own personal style. After leaving Cannell's company in 1987, he sent out videos of his work, looking for a job. He was originally slated to direct the 10th episode of Star Treks first season, but one of the series' directors, Donald Petrie, dropped out early to direct the film Mystic Pizza. This gave Bowman the opportunity to direct the fourth episode of the season, "Where No One Has Gone Before". Bowman investigated the sets two weeks early to begin prepping the episode. Bowman told Starlog magazine, "Walking through those empty sets was very intimidating for me. I kept asking myself how I was going to do justice to these sets, tell the story and still get the performances from the cast." Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was so impressed with the dailies for the episode, that he made an appearance on set to praise Bowman in front of the cast and crew. Immediately following directing "Where No One Has Gone Before", Bowman directed an episode of the Fox Broadcasting Company's television series Werewolf.

Castle alt=Andrew Marlowe and Rob Bowman working on the set of Castle.

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) hired Bowman to direct the pilot for Castle, a television series about a crime novelist who consults with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The series was created by Andrew Marlowe, who served as executive producer along with his wife Terri Miller. When Miller stepped down as executive producer, Bowman took on the role.

Style Bowman's signature visual style involves lighting contrasts within a scene, including framing actors as silhouettes. The X-Files writer and producer Frank Spotnitz said that Bowman works very hard to make every "scene as beautiful and as complementary to the story as possible". He said that Bowman's camera movements were never gratuitous and were deliberately planned to aid viewers in understanding what was happening in a scene. Spotnitz complimented Bowman's attention to lighting for mood, saying "You would think that on a television schedule you don't have time to compose and think thoroughly about all these issues, but Rob really does."

FilmographyFilm Airborne (1993) The X-Files (1998) Reign of Fire (2002) Elektra (2005)TV movies Marlowe (2007) Big Thunder (2013) Occult (2015) Staties (2018)TV series'