Steve Carr

Steven Harold Carr (born April 7, 1965) is an American film director, music video director, and film producer from Brooklyn, New York. After studying fine arts on a full scholarship to Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Carr founded design firm The Drawing Board with Cey Adams to create iconic album artwork for Def Jam Recordings artists such as Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J and more. Asked to take his vision to film, Carr created groundbreaking videos for influential hip-hop artists from Slick Rick to Jay-Z, and was signed to Quentin Tarantino's A Band Apart music video production company in Los Angeles, CA.

Carr made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy Next Friday in 2000. He subsequently directed many box office hits in the 2000s including Dr. Dolittle 2, Daddy Day Care, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Career Shortly after graduating from SVA, Carr convinced Russell Simmons to let him design all the album covers at Def Jam Records. Carr began directing music videos including Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)."

After having directed a number of music videos, Ice Cube hired Carr to direct the sequel to his hit film Friday (1995). The film, the R-rated comedy Next Friday, was Carr's first feature film. He subsequently directed the films Dr. Dolittle 2, Daddy Day Care, Are We Done Yet?, Rebound, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He also directed a segment in Movie 43 and executive produced the 2006 TV movie Santa Baby starring Jenny McCarthy, its sequel Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe, and was at one time attached to direct National Security starring Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn, and an earlier film adaptation of Iron Fist. In 2020, it was announced Carr was set to direct a Netflix romantic comedy, A Merry Little Ex-Mas, released in 2025.

Filmography Year Title Director Executiveproducer Notes 2000 Next Friday 2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 2003 Daddy Day Care 2005 Rebound 2007 Are We Done Yet? 2009 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2013 Movie 43 (Segment: "The Proposition") Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (shared with the other 14 directors) 2016 Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life 2018 Freaky Friday TV movie 2025 A Merry Little Ex-Mas