Michael Bay

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) and Ambulance (2022). Armageddon and Pearl Harbor each received four Academy Award nominations, the latter winning for Best Sound Editing. His films have grossed over US$6.6 billion worldwide, making him the sixth-most commercially successful director in history.

Bay studied English and film at Wesleyan University, graduating in 1986, and did graduate work at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He began his career at Propaganda Films directing commercials and music videos, winning a Clio Award for a 1992 Red Cross spot and a Grand Prix Clio for the 1993 "Aaron Burr" Got Milk? commercial. He was later hired by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson to direct Bad Boys, the first of five collaborations with Bruckheimer. Bay is co-founder of the production house the Institute, through which he has directed commercials for brands including Victoria's Secret, Lexus and Nike. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror films. From 2006 to 2012, Bay was a co-owner of the visual effects company Digital Domain.

Despite commercial success, Bay's work is critically divisive, and his name has been used pejoratively in art-house circles. Reviewers have often faulted Bay's preference for action and spectacle over story and character, his broad humor, extensive product placement, and his use of racial stereotypes for comic effect. Six of his films have been nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Worst Director, with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) winning the latter. He has also been criticized for objectifying women in his films, and Megan Fox and Kate Beckinsale have publicly described being mistreated by him during production. Other commentators, including the film historian Jeanine Basinger and Variety's Scott Foundas, have praised the scale and fluency of his filmmaking.