---
name: "Ron Underwood"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/ron-underwood"
fi1m_id: "ron-underwood"
imdb_id: "nm0881038"
tmdb_id: 33485
wikidata_id: "Q1303837"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "6 November 1953"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 11
average_fi1m_score: 69
average_as: "director"
average_over: 11
updated: "2026-09-24T02:40:50.946986+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Ron Underwood

## Identity

Ron Underwood

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ron-underwood
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** ron-underwood
- **IMDb ID:** nm0881038
- **TMDB ID:** 33485
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1303837
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Underwood, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1303837, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0881038/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/33485

Director. Born 6 November 1953 in Glendale, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 6 November 1953, Glendale, California, USA
- **Active:** 1990–2012
- **Also known as:** Ronald B. Underwood , Ronald Brian Underwood 
- **Frequently works with:** [Arlene Sanford](https://film.one/person/arlene-sanford.md), [Bethany Rooney](https://film.one/person/bethany-rooney.md), [Bryan Spicer](https://film.one/person/bryan-spicer.md), [Jeannot Szwarc](https://film.one/person/jeannot-szwarc.md), [Kate Woods](https://film.one/person/kate-woods.md), [Paul A. Edwards](https://film.one/person/paul-a-edwards.md), [Stephen Cragg](https://film.one/person/stephen-cragg.md), [Steve Robin](https://film.one/person/steve-robin.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 69, as director, over 11 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 79 (2), 2000s 66 (6), 2010s 68 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 61 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 9 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 8, Comedy 5, Crime 2, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 2, Science Fiction 2, Action 1
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $235m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Underwood, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1303837, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0881038/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/33485

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Desperate Housewives*](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md) (78), [*Boston Legal*](https://film.one/tv/boston-legal.md) (76), [*Castle*](https://film.one/tv/castle.md) (73), [*Grey's Anatomy*](https://film.one/tv/greys-anatomy.md) (68), [*Once Upon a Time*](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md) (65)
- **Peacock:** [*Tremors*](https://film.one/film/tremors.md) (82)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*City Slickers*](https://film.one/film/city-slickers.md) (76)
- **Pluto TV:** [*Nashville*](https://film.one/tv/nashville-2012.md) (74)
- **Netflix:** [*Heroes*](https://film.one/tv/heroes.md) (68)
- **Apple TV:** [*Hawaii Five-0*](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md) (65)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Adventures of Pluto Nash*](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-pluto-nash.md) (32)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Ron Underwood

> Ron Underwood's comedies work when a tough man is set down among talkers and the actors are left to do the work. With a strong cast and a thin script he is fine; with neither, as in *Pluto Nash*, nothing catches him.

The best moments in a Ron Underwood film belong to a man who is not talking. In *City Slickers* (1991) Jack Palance's Curly Washburn sits on his horse and says almost nothing while Billy Crystal and his two friends complain their way across a cattle drive, and the silence makes every complaint funnier. Underwood knows the trick: put something solid beside something busy and let the contrast make the joke. He does not underline it. The script does, and the life lessons grow more insistent as the film goes on.

He came to features late, after more than a hundred educational films and a stretch in children's television, and the tidiness shows. *Tremors* (1990), his debut, is a monster film that keeps stopping to be funny, made with the writers Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson, with whom he would make three films. *City Slickers* the following year is the one that made his name. *Heart and Souls* (1993), a bittersweet fantasy comedy, and *Mighty Joe Young* (1998), an effects-heavy remake, kept him where he is comfortable, which is comedy leaning on something from another genre. We have not reviewed either and will not judge them here.

Then came *The Adventures of Pluto Nash* (2002), Eddie Murphy as a nightclub owner on the Moon dodging gangsters, and the method fails. We sat through it waiting for the setting to be used for anything, and it never was: the Moon is scenery and the gangsters are habit, and Neil Cuthbert's screenplay seems content to get everyone from one end of the plot to the other. Murphy is amiable, which is not the same as funny. Underwood keeps it moving, and moving is all it does.

Since the mid-2000s he has worked almost entirely in television: *Boston Legal* (2004), *Grey's Anatomy* (2005), *Heroes* (2006), and later *Once Upon a Time*, *Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.* and *Fear the Walking Dead*. Our reviews of the first three do not mention him, and that is not a slight. An episode director on an American network drama serves the show's look and the show's pace, and Underwood's episodes sit inside their series without a visible join. He was always a careful man with other people's material. Television is where that is the whole job, and he is still doing it.

He told the Baltimore Sun in 1991 that he wanted *City Slickers* to be "a heartfelt emotional adventure, something that was more than just funny, so people could learn a little more about life." We laughed at that film, and mostly at the man who was not trying to be funny; the learning is the part we would have cut. Give Underwood a Palance and he will know exactly where to stand him. The advice about living better he can keep.

## Biography

Ron Underwood is an American film and television director. Born Ronald Brian Underwood on 6 November 1953 in Glendale, California, he studied at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television and completed an American Film Institute fellowship. He began his career directing educational films for Barr Films and children's television specials, including *The Mouse and the Motorcycle* (1986), which earned a Peabody Award.

Underwood made his feature-film debut with *Tremors* (1990), on which he also received story credit. He followed this with the commercial success *City Slickers* (1991). Subsequent films include *Heart and Souls* (1993), *Speechless* (1994) and *Mighty Joe Young* (1998). He co-founded Stampede Entertainment with collaborators Brent Maddock and S. S. Wilson.

Underwood has directed numerous television episodes, including on *Grey's Anatomy*, *Fear the Walking Dead*, *Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.*, *Heroes*, *Once Upon a Time*, *Castle* and *Desperate Housewives*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, stampede-entertainment.com, tremors.fandom.com.*

## On Fi1m (11)

- *Nashville* (2012), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/nashville-2012.md)
- *Once Upon a Time* (2011), Fi1m 65, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md)
- *Hawaii Five-0* (2010), Fi1m 65, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md)
- *Castle* (2009), Fi1m 73, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/castle.md)
- *Heroes* (2006), Fi1m 68, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/heroes.md)
- *Grey's Anatomy* (2005), Fi1m 68, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/greys-anatomy.md)
- *Boston Legal* (2004), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/boston-legal.md)
- *Desperate Housewives* (2004), Fi1m 78, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md)
- *The Adventures of Pluto Nash* (2002), Fi1m 32, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-pluto-nash.md)
- *City Slickers* (1991), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/city-slickers.md)
- *Tremors* (1990), Fi1m 82, Director, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/tremors.md)

## Complete filmography (70)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Watson* (2025), series, Director
- *Elsbeth* (2024), series, Director
- *Tales of the Walking Dead* (2022), series, Director
- *La Brea* (2021), series, Director
- *Big Shot* (2021), series, Director
- *Tremors: Shrieker Island* (2020), Characters
- *Evil* (2019), series, Director
- *Grand Hotel* (2019), series, Director
- *Magnum P.I.* (2018), series, Director
- *Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell* (2018), Characters
- *Tremors* (2018), series, Characters
- *Kevin (Probably) Saves the World* (2017), series, Director
- *The Good Fight* (2017), series, Director
- *No Tomorrow* (2016), series, Director
- *MacGyver* (2016), series, Director
- *Dead of Summer* (2016), series, Director
- *BrainDead* (2016), series, Director
- *Quantico* (2015), series, Director
- *Fear the Walking Dead* (2015), series, Director
- *Resurrection* (2014), series, Director
- *Once Upon a Time in Wonderland* (2013), series, Director
- *Witches of East End* (2013), series, Director
- *Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.* (2013), series, Director
- *Nashville* (2012), series, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/nashville-2012.md)
- *Deck the Halls* (2011), Director
- *Once Upon a Time* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md)
- *Necessary Roughness* (2011), series, Director
- *CHAOS* (2011), series, Director
- *No Ordinary Family* (2010), series, Director
- *Hawaii Five-0* (2010), series, Director — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md)
- *Hellcats* (2010), series, Director
- *The Glades* (2010), series, Director
- *Santa Baby 2* (2009), Director
- *Drop Dead Diva* (2009), series, Director
- *Make It or Break It* (2009), series, Director
- *Castle* (2009), series, Director — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/castle.md)
- *The Secret Life of the American Teenager* (2008), series, Director
- *Eli Stone* (2008), series, Director
- *Holiday in Handcuffs* (2007), Director
- *Reaper* (2007), series, Director
- *The Year Without a Santa Claus* (2006), Director
- *Santa Baby* (2006), Director
- *Ugly Betty* (2006), series, Director
- *Heroes* (2006), series, Director — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/heroes.md)
- *In The Mix* (2005), Director
- *Grey's Anatomy* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/greys-anatomy.md)
- *Back When We Were Grownups* (2004), Director
- *Desperate Housewives* (2004), series, Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md)
- *Boston Legal* (2004), series, Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/boston-legal.md)
- *Tremors 4: The Legend Begins* (2004), Characters
- *Tremors* (2003), series, Characters
- *Stealing Sinatra* (2003), Director
- *The Adventures of Pluto Nash* (2002), Director — Fi1m 32, [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-pluto-nash.md)
- *Monk* (2002), series, Director
- *Mighty Joe Young* (1998), Director
- *Tremors 2: Aftershocks* (1996), Executive Producer, Characters
- *Speechless* (1994), Director
- *Heart and Souls* (1993), Director
- *City Slickers* (1991), Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/city-slickers.md)
- *Runaway Ralph* (1991), Director
- *Tremors* (1990), Director, Story — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/tremors.md)
- *Hi Cat!* (1989), Director
- *The Mouse and the Motorcycle* (1986), Director
- *Too Smart for Strangers* (1985), Director
- *Library Report* (1983), Director
- *Capricorn One* (1977), Location Manager
- *ABC Weekend Specials* (1977), series, Director
- *Library World* (1977), Director
- *Dictionary: The Adventure of Words* (1968), Producer
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/ron-underwood