Davis is the son of Miss Nevada winner Janet Hadland and Highlander film producer Peter S. Davis.[2] Davis attended Stanford University, where he double majored in Economics and Modern Thought and Literature.[3]
Career
Davis wrote the New York Times bestselling book Spare Parts, which grew out of his article "La Vida Robot."[4] The story follows the lives of four teenage immigrants who built an underwater robot. The book was a finalist for Columbia University's J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize[5] and was adapted into the movie Spare Parts by Lionsgate starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marisa Tomei. It premiered in January 2015.[6]
In 2012, Davis was kidnapped in Libya while reporting an article for Men's Journal.[7] Later that year, he lived with John McAfee in Belize and documented McAfee's lifestyle and legal problems, including allegations of murder.[8] In 2003, Davis covered the Iraq war for Wired.[9] For The New Yorker in 2011, Davis wrote about bitcoin when the cryptocurrency was worth five dollars.[10] He has also profiled Elon Musk multiple times, including a 2010 Wired cover story[11] and in an early in-depth article about Tesla.[12]
Davis' first book, The Underdog, was published by Random House in 2005.[13] It chronicles Davis' entry into unusual competitions around the world, including the US Sumo Open[14] and the World Armwrestling Championship in Gdynia, Poland. Davis documented his time as a competitive arm wrestler in the film "The Beast Within," which won best documentary at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival.[15]
In 2013, Davis and Joshuah Bearman formed Epic Magazine,[16] a magazine and production company specializing in unusual true stories.[17] Davis and Bearman have sold more than fifty articles to Hollywood, with four films and two TV series produced.[18] Davis, in partnership with J. J. Abrams and Bad Robot, also produced the short documentary series "Moon Shot," which chronicles the work of those competing for the Google Lunar X Prize.[19]
Awards
2003 Winner of Best Documentary at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival for The Beast Within[20]
2014 Finalist for the National Magazine Award in Feature Writing for "John McAfee's Last Stand"[21]
2015 Finalist for the Columbia School of Journalism's Lukas Prize for Spare Parts[22][23]
2021 Finalist for an Independent Spirit Award as an Executive Producer of Little America
2022 Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival as an Executive Producer of Breaking
2023 Winner of the Audience Award for Best Film at the Sundance Film Festival as a Producer of Radical[24]
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