James Mangold was born in New York. After graduating from the Institute of the Arts, he pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia University, where he began working under director Milos Forman on his first feature film. Heavywhich received the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1995 and represented his country at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. His next project, Cop Land, also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was well-received in the United States. He later embarked on the film adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's book, Girl, Interrupted, which earned Angelina Jolie a Golden Globe, an Oscar, and an Actors Guild Award.