A 1983 graduate of the University of Southern California, Gary Foster began his career as a producer in the mid 1980s. At the age of 25, he produced his first film, Short Circuit. In 1993, Foster produced the Oscar® and Golden Globe-nominated hit Sleepless in Seattle, which grossed more than $300 million worldwide.

From 1993-1996 he produced Just Cause, The Amazing Panda Adventure, Big Bully, and Tin Cup starring Kevin Costner.

In 2001, Foster produced The Score, which brought together the talents of Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando.

In 2003, he began a series of three movies for Marvel Studios: Daredevil (Fox/New Regency) starring Ben Affleck in the title role, which was followed in 2005 by Elektra (Fox/New Regency) starring Jennifer Garner, and finally, Ghost Rider (Sony) in 2006 starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes.

Other feature credits also include: Gloria, Desperate Measures, Loverboy and Side Out.

In 2009, he produced The Soloist starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. The film was directed by Joe Wright and written by Susannah Grant.

In January of 2010, Foster produced When In Rome (The Walt Disney Company), a comedy with romance starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. Mark Steven Johnson directed it.

Gary developed with his partner Russ Krasnoff and Dan Harmon, the acclaimed series Community. He was an Executive Producer for all 6 seasons of the NBC/Yahoo/Sony Pictures Television comedy series starring Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong.

In 2013 -2014 Foster produced Emperor starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones and Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady starring Kevin Kline, Dame Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas.

In 2016 Foster produced the BAFTA nominated film Denial starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall. Screenplay by David Hare and Directed by Mick Jackson.

In 2023 his film Finestkind was released by Paramount +. Written and directed by Brian Helgeland, it stared Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also in 2024, the Community movie which reunites Dan Harmon and the cast will be made for Peacock.

Gary serves on the Board of The People Concern, an agency based in Los Angeles that provides services and housing for the homeless community. He also serves on the Board of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.