The staff at IMDb is celebrating the end of a great year of TV with a look back at our favorites from 2025.

IMDb Staff's Favorite Series of 2025

See what [i][link=/title/tt0488658/]Unaccompanied Minors[/link][/i] star [link=/name/nm1927701/]Tyler James Williams[/link] and other holiday-movie stars look like now.

Holiday Movie Stars Then and Now

See what <a class="ipc-md-link" href="/title/tt0488658/?ref_=nmqu_eds_right-7_lk">Unaccompanied Minors</a> star <a class="ipc-md-link" href="/name/nm1927701/?ref_=nmqu_eds_right-7_lk">Tyler James Williams</a> and other holiday-movie stars look like now.

Wayne Kramer was born in South Africa, where he graduated from the Johannesburg School for Art, Drama and Music. His feature film debut came in 2003 with "The Cooler," a romantic drama set in Las Vegas and starring William H. Macy as a professional casino jinx and Maria Bello as the cocktail waitress who changes his luck. "The Cooler" was selected for competition in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2003 Los Angeles Film Festival. Alec Baldwin received an Oscar® nomination for his portrayal of an old-school casino boss, and won the National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actor award. The Lionsgate release also received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Online Film Critics award nominations for both Baldwin and Bello. Kramer won the Special Jury Prize at the Cognac Festival du Film Policier. Kramer was nominated for a 2004 Golden Satellite Award and a 2004 Edgar Allan Poe (along with Frank Hannah) for his screenplay to The Cooler, which also received a 2003 Special Mention For Excellence in Filmmaking from the National Board of Review

Wayne followed up "The Cooler" with "Running Scared," a gritty action thriller for New Line Cinema. Paul Walker starred as a New Jersey mob foot soldier who spends a harrowing night chasing down a gun used to kill a dirty cop. The film also starred Vera Farmiga, Chazz Palminteri and Elizabeth Mitchell. "Running Scared" was released in 2006 and has since become a cult favorite among action fans.

Next, Wayne wrote, produced (along with Frank Marshall) and directed "Crossing Over," an ensemble drama about illegal immigration in Los Angeles. The film stars Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Jim Sturgess, Ashley Judd, Cliff Curtis, Alice Eve and Alice Braga. "Crossing Over" was released by The Weinstein Company in 2009.

Most recently, Wayne directed the black comedy ensemble "Pawn Shop Chronicles," which was released by Anchor Bay in 2013. The film stars Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Elijah Wood, Thomas Jane, Vincent D'Onofrio and Lukas Haas.

Wayne will next direct the dystopian sci-fi love story "Ecstasia," based on his upcoming novel, with Scott Eastwood attached to star.

Kramer's other credits include the original screenplay for "Mindhunters" (2004), directed by Renny Harlin and released by Dimension Films.

Which project did he feel didn&#39;t live up to what he had envisioned? I wrote the original screenplay to Mindhunters and it was rewritten
(dumbed down) by a dozen writers. The finished movie bears very little
resemblance to my original work. I don&#39;t have a line of dialogue left
in the film and very little of my original storyline. Excerpted from Wayne Kramer answers 10 Questions on IGN

Quotes

Wayne Kramer

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed