Robert Mark Kamen

Robert Mark Kamen is an American screenwriter and producer best known as creator and co-creator of The Karate Kid, Transporter and Taken franchises.

Kamen grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City. He received a B.A. from New York University and a Ph.D in American Studies from The University of Pennsylvania.

Kamen is a frequent collaborator of French writer, director and producer Luc Besson—his co-creator on The Fifth Element, The Transporter, and Taken. The two first worked together on the Natalie Portman and Jean Reno thriller The Professional. After the success of The Fifth Element, Besson invited Kamen to join him in his goal of creating a "mini-studio" in Europe, making "movies that would travel, international movies, you know, action movies."

Kamen lives in New York, owns a vineyard in Sonoma, and commutes to work in Paris at Besson’s headquarters.

Kamen is a Goju-Ryu karate practitioner.

• Taps (1981)
• Split Image (1982)
• The Karate Kid (1984)
• The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
• The Punisher (producer, rewriter) (1989)
• The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
• Gladiator (1992)
• Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
• The Power of One (1992)
• A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
• The Devil's Own (1997, uncredited rewrite)
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
• The Transporter (2002)
• Black Sash (2003, TV creator)
• Transporter 2 (2005)
• Bandidas (2006)
• Taken (2008)
• Transporter 3 (2008)
• Taken 2 (2012)
• Brick Mansions (2014)
• Taken 3 (2014)

• Maslin, Janet (1984-06-22). "SCREEN 'KARATE KID,' BANE OF BULLIES". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
• "Devil's Own, The - Ethics & Public Policy Center". Ethics & Public Policy Center. Retrieved 2017-01-24. 
• Pfeiffer, Lee; Lewis, Michael (2002-01-01). The Films of Harrison Ford. Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806523644.