Peter Samuelson

Co-founder and president of First Star and CEO of PhilmCo Media LLC., Peter Samuelson is a serial pro-social entrepreneur. In 1982, he co-founded the Starlight Children’s Foundation. By 1990, the positive impact of Starlight seeded his next pro-social endeavor, Starbright World, co-founded with Steven Spielberg. Following that, 1999 saw the formation of First Star; in 2005 the founding of EDAR, the Everyone Deserves a Roof initiative; and in 2013 the launch of ASPIRE, the Academy for Social Purpose in Responsible Entertainment. Samuelson has produced twenty-seven films. Educated at Cambridge and the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, he continues to fight every day for those less fortunate, chief among them America’s abused and neglected children. First in his family to attend college, Samuelson graduated from Cambridge on a full scholarship with an MA in English Literature. He was the production manager on films such as The Return of the Pink Panther, emigrated from England to the U.S., and produced Revenge of the Nerds, Tom & Viv, Wilde, Arlington Road, and twenty-three other films. Samuelson has four children, has been married to Saryl for thirty-five years, and lives in Los Angeles. Learn more at: www.samuelson.la.