Luca Josef Bercovici was born in New York on the 22nd of February, 1957. He has quite mixed origins: Romanian gypsy Jew on his father's side and Italian on his mother's side. His great-great grandfather, in order to escape conscription into the Romanian army, bought falsified letters of transit under the name of "Halpern", trying to get the family out of Romania, but he got caught. A little while later, he tried again and bought letters of transit under the name of "Bercovici", and this time he made it out with his family. Luca's original family name is "Halevy", but they've been Bercovicis ever since.
His father, Eric, and his grandfather, Leonardo, were both directors and screenwriters. Leonardo wrote the script for "The Bishop's Wife" which starred Cary Grant, and “Portrait of Jennie”, which starred Joseph Cotton and Jennifer Jones. Eric wrote the screenplay for "Hell In The Pacific", the famous John Boorman's movie starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune, and later went on to adapt and produce James Clavell's "Shogun” and “Noble House”.
Luca's brother, Hilary, and his step-mother, Karen, both work in the film industry. Karen is a writer and an actress and has appeared in Michael Mann's "Thief" and Hilary is a composer ("Rockula", "Think Big") and is currently a VP of an independent record label, Morrowland Records.
From age five to ten, Luca and his family lived in Rome, Italy, in the beautiful area of Villa Borghese. He does still speak a little Italian. Luca also raised in such far-flung places as London, New York and California. After attending College of the Redwoods and Santa Monica College, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University.
In 1979 Luca spent six months in Japan, working on the miniseries, "The "Shogun" (1980) (mini)" as Dialogue Director, specifically working with Japanese actress Yoko Shimada, winner of a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Nominee. Once returned to the United States, Luca started his acting career and he has starred in many feature films including "American Flyers (1985)", "Clean and Sober (1988)", "Pacific Heights (1990)", "Drop Zone (1994)" and "Big Squeeze (1996)".
In 1982, Luca began his professional writing career, working with his partner Jefery Levy (director of "S.F.W."), developing new series concepts for MGM, culminating in a pilot script for CBS and MGM, "The Storytellers". He has also written for Aaron Spelling Productions and others.
In 1984, he and Jefery Levy co-wrote a feature film script, “New Deal" which was subsequently purchased by 20th Century Fox. Also that year, Luca made his directorial debut with the hugely successful film, "Ghoulies (1985)", which he and Jefery Levy co-wrote for Empire Films. "Ghoulies" was the top grossing independent film in 1985 and has spawned three sequels. In 1988, Luca directed his second feature, a musical comedy about a vampire, "Rockula (1990)", which he also co-wrote.
In 1993, Luca directed his third film, "The Dark Tide (1993)" for Trimark and Tapestry Films, an action thriller starring Chris Sarandon, Richard Tyson and Brigitte Bako (the film was #1 R.O.I, at the Showest 1994). In 1994, he made his fourth feature, directing a horror-comedy, which he scripted, entitled "Granny (1995)" starring Stella Stevens and Shannon Whirry for Tapestry Films and WarnerVision.
"Chain, The (1996/I)", an action drama starring Gary Busey, is Luca's fifth feature film. "The Chain" sold exceptionally well at AFM and was picked up by HBO for a World Premiere. In addition to directing, he also co-wrote the script. In 1997, Luca directed his sixth film, "Convict 762 (1997)" for EGM International and in 1998, his seventh, "BitterSweet (1999) " for King Films International. Luca has just completed his eighth feature, "Luck of the Draw (2000)", which stars William Forsythe, Dennis Hopper, Eric Roberts, Ice-T, Michael Madsen and Patrick Kilpatrick. He is about to direct his ninth feature, "Restoration". Luca lives in Mar Vista, California. He has a son, Nicholas.
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