“Without Lloyd Kaufman, there probably never would have been There's Something About Mary or Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo.”

- Michael H. Klienschrodt, film critic - New Orleans Times

Whether or not he would accept the fame (or blame) for these raunchy, mainstream blockbusters, there can be no doubt that what Kaufman has achieved is enormous. In 30 years, Kaufman, along with Yale friend and partner Michael Herz, has built Troma Studios up from a young company struggling to find its voice in a field crowded with competitors to legendary status as a lone survivor, a bastion of true independence, and the world's greatest concentration of camp. Among Troma Entertainment's library of over 1,000 movies are the early performances of such stars as Kevin Costner, Billy Bob Thornton, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Dennis Hopper, Dustin Hoffman, Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) and countless others! As a filmmaker, Lloyd Kaufman has accumulated a remarkable list of credits, as well as a more extraordinary list of debits to loan sharks and pawn shops across New York.

 

"Acclaimed directors such as Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Spain’s Álex de la Iglesia and Japan’s Takashi Miike have all sited independent film director Lloyd Kaufman and the infamous film The Toxic Avenger as major influences."

- Rupert Bottenberg

In the late 1960's, Kaufman was enrolled at Yale University (where he would later teach multiple Filmmaking Master Classes), diligently working on a respectable degree in Chinese Studies. However, Kaufman was destined for other things. As he explains in his hit book All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger (published by Penguin Putnam), “At Yale I was placed in a dormitory room with two film fanatics, and I knew everything had irrevocably changed.” In fact, Kaufman was infected with a love of movies from which he never recovered.