Peter Simpson

Peter Simpson, Chairman and CEO of Norstar Filmed Entertainment Inc. is a veteran of the Canadian entertainment industry who just completed production on his 31st feature film, Darkness Falling, starring Janet Kidder, Jason Priestley and Patsy Kensit, directed by Dominic Shiac. The digital video feature was shot on location in Toronto, Canada. The irrepressible Simpson had several careers before getting his first taste of the entertainment industry, working in advertising and election campaigns for Canada's Progressive Conservative Party. In 1969, he formed MBS (Media Buying Services) a specialist media placement company that ultimately expanded into the United States and Europe, with offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, Simpson discovered his passion for the film business when he moved into movie advertising. His natural ability to pull a deal together triggered the creation of a new distribution company, Simcom Ltd. in 1971. Simcom represented Sunn Classic Pictures on the sale of the Grizzly Adams series to NBC in 1976 launching Simcom as a major independent distributor.

In 1979, after producing the box office smash, Prom Night, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen, Simpson turned the film into a lucrative series. It's sequel, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 made the U.S. top ten list for highest grossing film in its opening weekend. This was followed by Prom Night III - The Last Kiss and Prom Night IV – Deliver Us From Evil. Returning to Toronto, Simpson branched out into film and television development, financing, production and worldwide distribution with a new company, Norstar Entertainment. Norstar quickly became Canada's leading independent distributor with films such as Room with a View, Teen Wolf, Dirty Dancing, Nightmare on Elm Street and Bitter Moon.

Other producing credits include Regeneration, starring Jonathan Pryce, Jonny Lee Miller and James Wilby, Pale Saints, starring Sean Patrick Flanery and A Brooklyn State of Mind, featuring Danny Aiello; Men With Guns starring Donal Logue, Paul Sorvino and Callum Keith Rennie; The Rage starring Lorenzo Lamas, Gary Busey and Roy Scheider.Additional producing credits include the erotic thriller Blackheart starring Richard Grieco Maria Conchita Alonso, Fiona Loewi and Christopher Plummer; the romantic coming of-age comedy Oh, What A Night, starring Robbie Coltrane; the twisted thriller Liar's Edge; and Cold Sweat starring Ben Cross, Adam Baldwin, and Shannon Tweed. Movies-of-the-week include Murder By Night with Robert Urich; No Contest, starring Andrew "Dice" Clay, Shannon Tweed and Robert Davi (HBO Premier).Recent producing credits include family adventure film Grizzly Falls, a $10 million feature starring Bryan Brown, Tom Jackson and Richard Harris; and the black comedy The Highwayman, starring Jason Priestley, Stephen McHattie, Laura Harris and Louis Gossett, Jr.

In December 1997 Simpson sold the Norstar Library to Alliance Communications, and formed Nostar Filmed Entertainment as his new vehicle for producing world class filmed entertainment. In addition to shooting five features in its' first two years, Norstar has a very active development slate of over 30 feature films. Simpson served for ten years on the Board of Directors of the Toronto International Film Festival. He maintains his interest in the advertising business through the Chairmanship of Genesis Media, one of Canada' s largest media management companies.