Ryan Murphy (television creator)
Encyclopedia
Ryan Murphy is an American film and television screenwriter
, director
, and producer
. He is best known for creating/co-creating the television series Nip/Tuck
, Glee
, and American Horror Story
.
, in an Irish Catholic
family. He attended Catholic school
from first through eighth grade, and graduated from Warren Central High School (Indianapolis)
. He has described his mother as a "beauty queen who left it all to stay at home and take care of her two sons." She wrote 5 books and worked in communications for over 20 years before retiring. His father worked in the newspaper industry as a circulation director before he retired after 30 years. After coming out as gay, he saw his first therapist, who found nothing wrong with him other than being "'too precocious for his own good.'" Murphy performed with a choir as a child, which would later inform his work on Glee
.
Murphy attended Indiana University, Bloomington. While at college, he was a staff member of the school newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student
, and he was a member of the school's "Singing Hoosiers" show choir.
, The Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News
, Knoxville News Sentinel
and Entertainment Weekly
. He began scriptwriting in the late 1990s, when Steven Spielberg
purchased his script, Why Can't I Be Audrey Hepburn?
. The show aired on The WB for two seasons.
Murphy is the Golden Globe-winning creator of Nip/Tuck
, which aired on FX and was both a commercial and critical hit. He executive produced, wrote and directed many episodes; in 2004, Murphy earned his first ever Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. Murphy took the show's signature line, "Tell me what you don't like about yourself", from a plastic surgeon he met when he was a journalist researching an undercover story on plastic surgery
in Beverly Hills
.
Murphy has also created a couple of failed pilots: the WB sitcom pilot St. Sass starring Delta Burke
and Heather Matarazzo
, which wasn't picked up. In 2008, Murphy wrote and directed the FX pilot Pretty/Handsome
, which also was not picked up.
One of Murphy's current projects is the FOX musical comedy-drama Glee
, co-created with Brad Falchuk
and Ian Brennan
. Fox aired a preview episode on May 19, 2009, following the season finale of American Idol
; the show aired its first regular season episode on September 9, 2009. The show's early success in its planned thirteen-episode run led the network to order an additional nine episodes for the spring, making it the first new fall series in 2009 to get a full season order of twenty-two episodes. It was announced during the last half of the first season that FOX had ordered a complete second and third season of Glee due to high ratings and positive feedback about the show and the characters. He won his first Emmy for directing the pilot episode of Glee, while the show received a record nineteen nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series, although it lost the latter to Modern Family
while winning in four categories. The show was nominated for twelve Emmys for its second season. It is now in its third season
.
In 2011, Murphy and Falchuk co-created the FX horror series American Horror Story
, in which the Harmon family moves into a haunted mansion. It debuted on October 5, 2011.
In October 2011, it was announced that Murphy, along with Glee co-executive producer Ali Adler, would be co-creating a new half-hour comedy pilot that "centers on a gay couple and the surrogate who will carry their child". According to Entertainment Weekly
, there was a bidding war between ABC
, NBC
, and FOX for the project, with the show going to NBC.
. Based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs
, the movie version starred Annette Bening
, Alec Baldwin
and Brian Cox, and, as the young Burroughs, newcomer Joseph Cross.
In 2010 Murphy directed Julia Roberts
in an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's
memoir Eat, Pray, Love. The film was a box office success but a critical failure, receiving harsh reviews criticizing its pacing and lack of credibility. To date, the film has grossed $204,482,125 worldwide.
As of 2011, Murphy has several films in development: Dirty Tricks, a political comedy; Face, a plastic surgery thriller; Need, an erotic thriller
; and Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.
gay.
Murphy grew up in a Catholic household and continues to go to church.
Murphy serves on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation.
On June 17, 2011, Murphy announced his engagement to a man he had known for 15 years.
from Guns N' Roses
, Dave Grohl
of the Foo Fighters
, and Kings of Leon
lead singer Caleb Followill and drummer Nathan Followill. It usually stems from the musicians refusing Murphy when asked to cover their music on Glee.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He is best known for creating/co-creating the television series Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
, Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, and American Horror Story
American Horror Story
American Horror Story is a horror-drama television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series centers on the Harmon family: Ben, Vivien and their daughter Violet, who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair...
.
Background
Murphy grew up in Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, in an Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
family. He attended Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
from first through eighth grade, and graduated from Warren Central High School (Indianapolis)
Warren Central High School (Indiana)
Warren Central High School is a public high school in Warren Township on the east side of Indianapolis. It has an enrollment of around 4,000...
. He has described his mother as a "beauty queen who left it all to stay at home and take care of her two sons." She wrote 5 books and worked in communications for over 20 years before retiring. His father worked in the newspaper industry as a circulation director before he retired after 30 years. After coming out as gay, he saw his first therapist, who found nothing wrong with him other than being "'too precocious for his own good.'" Murphy performed with a choir as a child, which would later inform his work on Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
.
Murphy attended Indiana University, Bloomington. While at college, he was a staff member of the school newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student
Indiana Daily Student
The Indiana Daily Student is an independent, student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana since 1867. The IDS is free and distributed throughout the campus and city.- Circulation :...
, and he was a member of the school's "Singing Hoosiers" show choir.
Career
He started out as a journalist working for The Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
, The Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, Knoxville News Sentinel
Knoxville News Sentinel
The Knoxville News Sentinel is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. It operates , an award-winning news website....
and Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. He began scriptwriting in the late 1990s, when Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
purchased his script, Why Can't I Be Audrey Hepburn?
Television
Murphy started his career in television in 1999 with the teen comedy series PopularPopular (TV series)
Popular is an American teenage comedy-drama on The WB Television Network in the United States, created by Ryan Murphy and Gina Matthews, starring Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope as two teenage girls that reside on polar opposite sides of the popularity spectrum at their high school, but are forced to...
. The show aired on The WB for two seasons.
Murphy is the Golden Globe-winning creator of Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
, which aired on FX and was both a commercial and critical hit. He executive produced, wrote and directed many episodes; in 2004, Murphy earned his first ever Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. Murphy took the show's signature line, "Tell me what you don't like about yourself", from a plastic surgeon he met when he was a journalist researching an undercover story on plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
.
Murphy has also created a couple of failed pilots: the WB sitcom pilot St. Sass starring Delta Burke
Delta Burke
Delta Ramona Leah Burke is an American television and film actress. Her television work includes a leading role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
and Heather Matarazzo
Heather Matarazzo
Heather Amy Matarazzo is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as a geeky girl in the film Welcome to the Dollhouse . She played Lilly in The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement...
, which wasn't picked up. In 2008, Murphy wrote and directed the FX pilot Pretty/Handsome
Pretty/Handsome
Pretty/Handsome is a 2008 television production by Nip/Tuck director–writer Ryan Murphy that was not picked up by FX, the television network which broadcasts Nip/Tuck.- Cast :* Joseph Fiennes as Bob Fitzpayne...
, which also was not picked up.
One of Murphy's current projects is the FOX musical comedy-drama Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, co-created with Brad Falchuk
Brad Falchuk
Brad Falchuk is a television writer, director and producer. He is best known for his work on the television series Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story.-Early life:...
and Ian Brennan
Ian Brennan (writer)
Ian Brennan is a television writer, actor and producer. He is best known for his work on the television show Glee.-Early life:Brennan is the son of John and Charman Brennan. His sister, Sarah Brennan, is one of the founders of in Chicago...
. Fox aired a preview episode on May 19, 2009, following the season finale of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
; the show aired its first regular season episode on September 9, 2009. The show's early success in its planned thirteen-episode run led the network to order an additional nine episodes for the spring, making it the first new fall series in 2009 to get a full season order of twenty-two episodes. It was announced during the last half of the first season that FOX had ordered a complete second and third season of Glee due to high ratings and positive feedback about the show and the characters. He won his first Emmy for directing the pilot episode of Glee, while the show received a record nineteen nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series, although it lost the latter to Modern Family
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
while winning in four categories. The show was nominated for twelve Emmys for its second season. It is now in its third season
Glee (season 3)
A third season of the Fox musical comedy-drama television series Glee was commissioned on May 23, 2010 while the first season aired. It premiered on September 20, 2011, and is being produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Ryan Murphy Television, with executive producers Dante Di Loreto and...
.
In 2011, Murphy and Falchuk co-created the FX horror series American Horror Story
American Horror Story
American Horror Story is a horror-drama television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series centers on the Harmon family: Ben, Vivien and their daughter Violet, who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair...
, in which the Harmon family moves into a haunted mansion. It debuted on October 5, 2011.
In October 2011, it was announced that Murphy, along with Glee co-executive producer Ali Adler, would be co-creating a new half-hour comedy pilot that "centers on a gay couple and the surrogate who will carry their child". According to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, there was a bidding war between ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and FOX for the project, with the show going to NBC.
Films
In 2006, Murphy wrote the screenplay for and directed the feature film Running with ScissorsRunning with Scissors (film)
Running with Scissors is a 2006 American comedy-drama film based on Augusten Burroughs' 2002 memoir of the same name, written and directed by Ryan Murphy, and starring Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Jill Clayburgh, and Gwyneth Paltrow with...
. Based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Xon Burroughs is an American writer known for his New York Times bestselling memoir Running with Scissors .- Life :...
, the movie version starred Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
and Brian Cox, and, as the young Burroughs, newcomer Joseph Cross.
In 2010 Murphy directed Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
in an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's
Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth M. Gilbert is an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist and memoirist. She is best known for her 2006 memoirs, Eat, Pray, Love, which as of December 2010, has spent 199 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was also made into a film by the same...
memoir Eat, Pray, Love. The film was a box office success but a critical failure, receiving harsh reviews criticizing its pacing and lack of credibility. To date, the film has grossed $204,482,125 worldwide.
As of 2011, Murphy has several films in development: Dirty Tricks, a political comedy; Face, a plastic surgery thriller; Need, an erotic thriller
Erotic thriller
The erotic thriller is a film and literary sub-genre which consists of a mixture between erotica and thriller. The genre increased in North American popularity from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, before declining in marketability.-1980s:...
; and Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.
Personal life
Murphy is openlyComing out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay.
Murphy grew up in a Catholic household and continues to go to church.
Murphy serves on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation.
On June 17, 2011, Murphy announced his engagement to a man he had known for 15 years.
Controversy
Ryan Murphy has had some public arguments with famous bands and their members, including SlashSlash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
from Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
of the Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, and Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion, Oklahoma but formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill , Ivan Nathan Followill and Michael Jared Followill Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion,...
lead singer Caleb Followill and drummer Nathan Followill. It usually stems from the musicians refusing Murphy when asked to cover their music on Glee.