He attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he was classmates in 1983 with actor Jon Cryer. He studied filmmaking at City College of New York then at New York University and made his first deal for a screenplay at age 19.
After finishing school, Yakin worked in the film industry, developing projects for several companies, and saw his first screenplay reach the screen in 1989, when The Punisher, a vehicle for Dolph Lundgren, was released. Yakin's next screenplay was The Rookie, starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. Wanting to take on more personal material, Yakin drew from his experiences growing up in New York's inner city for his next screenplay, Fresh. Yakin opted to direct his screenplay for Fresh himself. The film won critical acclaim, earning the Filmmaker's Trophy at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.
His Holocaust drama Death in Love debuted in January 2008. Yakin describes it as a movie about the failure of the family and inability to change your past.
He was a member of the US Dramatic Jury at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2010, it was announced that Yakin would direct Sympathy for the Devil, with Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Duhamel in the cast. The project was still in development as of 2014.
Yakin's most recent film is the family picture Max for Warner Bros. and MGM. The film was released on June 26, 2015.
