Jerry Sherlock
Early life and background
Early life and background
-------------------------

Sherlock dropped out of school at the age of fourteen to join the carnival. From then on he was self\-educated — he immersed himself in books published by the [Modern Library](/wiki/Modern_Library "Modern Library"), newspapers and magazines. After his time working with the circus he joined the [United States Air Force](/wiki/United_States_Air_Force "United States Air Force"), where he received an honorable discharge. Upon discharge, he started his career as a buyer for [S. Klein](/wiki/S._Klein "S. Klein") On The Square (he would return to Union Square years later to house the [New York Film Academy](/wiki/New_York_Film_Academy "New York Film Academy") in the [Tammany Hall Building](/wiki/44_Union_Square "44 Union Square")), before eventually leaving to establish his own export business in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

He returned to New York to start Amtec, a surplus textiles firm, where he became a partner, until the time he opted to change his career path and enter the world of film.

He left textiles to establish his own film production company. Within six months of establishing his company he had produced his first film, *[Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen](/wiki/Charlie_Chan_and_the_Curse_of_the_Dragon_Queen "Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen")* (1981\), starring [Michelle Pfeiffer](/wiki/Michelle_Pfeiffer "Michelle Pfeiffer") (in one of her first major roles), [Peter Ustinov](/wiki/Peter_Ustinov "Peter Ustinov") and [Angie Dickinson](/wiki/Angie_Dickinson "Angie Dickinson"). Later in 1981, he would produce an [Edward Albee](/wiki/Edward_Albee "Edward Albee") adaptation of [Vladimir Nabokov](/wiki/Vladimir_Nabokov "Vladimir Nabokov")'s novel *[Lolita](/wiki/Lolita "Lolita")* on Broadway at the [Brooks Atkinson Theatre](/wiki/Brooks_Atkinson_Theatre "Brooks Atkinson Theatre"). The play starred [Donald Sutherland](/wiki/Donald_Sutherland "Donald Sutherland") as [Humbert Humbert](/wiki/Humbert_Humbert "Humbert Humbert").

As an independent producer for film, stage, and television, he developed projects for [Disney](/wiki/Disney "Disney"), [Warner Brothers](/wiki/Warner_Brothers "Warner Brothers"), [United Artists](/wiki/United_Artists "United Artists"), [Paramount](/wiki/Paramount_Pictures "Paramount Pictures"), [EMI](/wiki/EMI "EMI") and others. His credits include executive producer of the movie, *[The Hunt for Red October](/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October_%28film%29 "The Hunt for Red October (film)")*, for [Paramount Pictures](/wiki/Paramount_Pictures "Paramount Pictures"); producer of *Lolita*, a Broadway production; and executive producer of the television production, *[Amahl and the Night Visitors](/wiki/Amahl_and_the_Night_Visitors "Amahl and the Night Visitors")*, for [CBS](/wiki/CBS "CBS").

### New York Film Academy

Founded in 1992 by Sherlock, the [New York Film Academy](/wiki/New_York_Film_Academy "New York Film Academy") originally established itself at the Tribeca Film Center as a film school where students could "learn by doing." The school occupied the Tammany Hall building in Union Square for 23 years. It now has established campuses in Battery Park, Los Angeles, South Beach, and Sydney and Gold Coast Australia. NYFA also conducts workshops at Harvard University, Disney Studios Florida, Paris, Florence, China, Japan, Qatar, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Korea, and more.

In addition to the international expansion, the school expanded in terms of its programs and curriculum. NYFA programs now include filmmaking, cinematography, acting, photography, producing, game design, graphic design, screenwriting, musical theatre, virtual reality, ESL, broadcast journalism, digital editing, music video, documentary filmmaking, and more.


Where did Sherlock join the United States Air Force?