Michael Landon, Jr., son of the late television and film legend Michael Landon, has been in the film business for over 20 years. Educated at USC and a Directing Fellow of the American Film Institute, he has worked in just about every capacity of the moviemaking process including film loader, 1st and 2nd assistant cameraman, stedicam operator, director of photography, apprentice film editor, production assistant and actor. He has developed and/or produced, directed and written screenplays for Fox, CBS, NBC, Disney, TriStar, Cinar and Hallmark Channel.
His film, “Love Comes Softly,” has won numerous awards including the Camie (Character and Morality in Entertainment) Award, the Movie Guide Award and the Gabriel Award. It also became the highest-rated movie in the history of the Hallmark Channel by 40 percent. When he followed up with the sequel, “Love’s Enduring Promise,” the ratings surpassed even the original giving Landon the top two highest-rated movies in the history of the channel, at that time. Since then, he has written, directed and/or produced four more installments of the “Love Comes Softly” series of films. The DVD release of “Love Comes Softly” has been the top-selling DVD in the Christian Booksellers Association market for three straight years since its release in 2004, and four of Landon’s films in the series rank in the top-ten. In all, Landon has written/directed and/or executive produced eight films in the “Love Comes Softly” series for the Hallmark Channel and Fox Home Entertainment. As a partner in Believe Pictures, he has written, directed and produced two films for 20th Century Fox, including the theatrically released “The Last Sin Eater,” based upon the best-selling novel by Francine Rivers and “Saving Sarah Cain,” inspired by a novel by best-selling author Beverly Lewis for Lifetime TV. Landon has written, produced and directed the additional Hallmark Channel Original Movies “The Shunning” and “The Confession,” also based on books by Beverly Lewis. A third Believe Pictures film, “The Velveteen Rabbit,” based upon the Margery Williams children’s classic, was released theatrically in February 2009. Most recently, Bird and Landon wrote and produced “Journey to Jamaa,” a true-life African adventure film for the relief organization, World Vision. Landon recently worked on the Fox Faith feature, “Jake’s Run.” He also co-authored "One More Sunrise," his first novel with best-selling author Tracie Peterson, for Bethany House Publishing. Landon’s best productions to date, however, are his three children with his wife, Sharee. Michael and his family currently reside in Austin, Texas.