Born Adam Spiegel, born October 22nd 1969 in Pennsylvania. His father, Arthur Spiegel III, was a distant relation of the Spiegel catalogue family and founded APM Management Consultants. His mother, Sandy Granzow, is a writer, communications consultant in developing countries, and artist. His brother Sam (aka Squeak E. Clean) is a producer and DJ. Jonze attended The Field School in Washington, D.C., and Walt Whitman High School. When he was in junior high and high school, Jonze worked at Browns convenient store, where his friend Mike Henderson gave him his nickname "Spike Jonze". He fronted Club Homeboy, an international BMX club, with Mark "Lew" Lewman and Andy Jenkins, both co-editors of Freestylin' Magazine in the mid- to late 1980s, where Jonze worked as a photographer. The three also created the youth culture magazines Homeboy and Dirt (the latter of which was described as "Sassy Magazine for boys," being published by the same company and distributed in cellophane bags with the landmark magazine for young women).
In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.
Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, most notably Blind skateboard company's Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate. In the closing credits montage of Yeah Right! He is also co-owner of Girl Skateboards.
Jonze has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by Vice and funded by MTV. Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007. The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process. Most recently, Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are. The film received generally favourable reviews, and appeared on many critics' end-of-the-year top ten lists. In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, Light Boxes. In July 2010, he directed a stop-motion trailer for an upcoming concert for the Canadian band Arcade Fire.
Spike Jonze has worked with all kinds of people. He has made music videos for some of the top artists such as Beastie Boys, WAX, Fatboy Slim, Tenacious D and more.
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
Praise You – Fatboy Slim
Wonderboy – Tenacious D
California WAX
Yeah, I do really like Jonze’s work I think he is a very talented editor, photographer and director. His work is always different, and goes against the “norms” that have been set over the years. I love the amount of imagination and creativity that goes into his work, I also love the way lots of his work isn’t as polished and clean cut. Over the years he has always got better and better he just keeps growing in his work and talents.