Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. Silver, Buzzy Hellring and Jonny Hine created the rules for what he called "Ultimate Frisbee" during his time there. He was later inducted into the USA Ultimate Hall of Fame. He finished his undergraduate studies at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, becoming the company’s motion pictures president. He earned his first screen credit as the associate producer on The Warriors and, with Gordon, produced 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire, and Brewster's Millions. In 1985, he formed Silver Pictures and produced successful action films such as Commando (1985), the Lethal Weapon franchise, the first two films of the Die Hard series, head first two films of the Predator series, and, The Matrix franchise of action films. Silver appears on-screen at the beginning of Who Framed Roger Rabbit as Raoul J. Raoul, the director of the animated short Something's Cookin. This was a prank Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis pulled on then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, as Eisner and Silver despised each other since their days at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, especially with the issues they faced making 48 Hrs.. Si.er trimmed his beard, paid his eyes, and asked not to have his name in initial cast lists. Reportedly, when production wrapped, because Silver was unrecognizable, Eisner questioned who played Raoul and was told it was Silver, at which point, Eisner shrugged and praised his performance. Silver directed "Split Personality" (1992), an HBO horror anthology Tales from the Crypt episode. He currently runs two production companies, Silver Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment, co-owned by Robert Zemeckis. Silver is also known for his eccentric temper, inspiring characters based on him in movies such as Grand Canyon, True Romance, and I'll Do Anything. The nature of Les Grossman (played by Tom Cruise) in the film Tropic Thunder is a parody of Silver. He also voiced "the police chief" in the 2001 film Osmosis Jones in an uncredited role. On June 24, 2019, Silver Pictures CEO Hal Sadoff announced that Silver had resigned from the company. Two days later, The Hollywood Reporter cited unnamed sources claiming that Joel Silver's overspending, dearth of recent box-office hits, and animosity between Silver and financier Daryl Katz led to Silver's departure. However, no official reason has yet been given by the Katz Group, Silver Pictures, or Joel Silver himself. Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses and automobiles Silver is well known as an aficionado of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1984, he bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and made considerable investments to restore it to its original condition. The Storer House's squarish relief ornament then became the company logo of Silver Pictures. Silver sold it in 2002 for $2.9 million. In 1986, he purchased the long-neglected C. Leigh Stevens Auldbrass Plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina, and has been restoring it since then. Both restorations have been managed and supervised by the architect Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright). Silver has also owned and restored two Lincoln Continental automobiles previously owned by Wright, one 1940 convertible and the other a 1941 coupe. After the 1940 car was damaged, Wright had a body shop rebuild the vehicle based on his custom redesign. For a time, both cars were displayed in the Storer House. Carmel Musgrove incident On August 19, 2015, Silver's 28-year-old assistant Carmel Musgrove drowned in a lagoon while working on vacation with Silver and his family in Bora Bora. Later, in August 2017, Musgrove's family sued Silver and his assistant Martin Herold, arguing the latter had provided her with cocaine, which, along with alcohol consumption and exhaustion from work, they alleged had contributed to her death. Silver was exonerated in February 2021 by a Los Angeles judge.