Nikki Silver

Last updated

Nikki Silver is an American television producer. She has won five Emmy Awards for Reading Rainbow in 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2001.

Contents

Career

Silver previously ran the company On Screen Entertainment until 2012 when she founded ToniK Productions with her partner Tonya Lewis Lee. [1] [2] ToniK is best known for its films, The Giver , The Watsons Go to Birmingham and the upcoming Monster. She has been producing film and television for 25 years. She began her career in children's media producing Reading Rainbow, the award-winning series for PBS, Reading Rainbow won the Emmy Award five times, [3] Peabody, [4] and Prix Jeunesse. [5]

Silver has produced for many networks on a variety of scripted and documentary programming. What's Going On? was a documentary series produced in association with the United Nations for Showtime Networks and hosted by top celebrity activists including Michael Douglas, Angelina Jolie, Richard Gere and Laurence Fishburne. Teenage Witness aired nationally on PBS in 2011 followed an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, Fanya Heller, as she shares her unique story with inner city teenagers. [6] Richard Gere provided the voice-over for the film, which played at several film festivals. Silver also produced the 2011 American Masters film, Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides, on the life and family of Jeff Bridges. [7] And Miracle's Boys, a live–action mini-series based on Jacqueline Woodson's novel which premiered on MTV's the N. Directed by Spike Lee, Ernest Dickerson, LeVar Burton and Bill Duke, the series chronicled the life of three orphaned teens struggling to keep their family together. Miracle's Boys was the first series she produced with Lewis Lee. [8]

Silver produced, The Zack Files, a fifty-two episode live action teen comedy based on the book series of the same name which aired on ABC Family. [9] Other series she produced include The Puzzle Place, Backyard Safari and Outward Bound USA. Silver has won five Emmy awards and numerous other accolades for her television work.

Personal life

Nikki Silver was born in New York City to Joan Kanstoren and Sylvan Schefler. Her father was an investment banker and her mother worked at NBC. She has two sisters Dawn Spiera, a television producer and Hope Taitz, an entrepreneur and advocate. She earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Brad Silver. She has three sons and still resides in New York City. Silver is actively involved with University of Pennsylvania having taken seats on different boards and committees. She and her husband, a board member of the Netter Center, support the community initiatives in West Philadelphia. When her oldest son was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, she got involved with the Hydrocephalus Association and their research initiatives. [10] While living in South Africa to film The Giver, Ms. Silver joined the advisory board of LALELA, an organization that provides educational arts for at risk kids to inspire creativity. [11]

Filmography

Television series

Film

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Bridges</span> American actor (born 1949)

Jeffrey Leon Bridges is an American actor. He is known for his leading man roles in film and television. In a career spanning over seven decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three BAFTA Awards and two Emmy Awards. In 2019, he was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LeVar Burton</span> American actor, director, and television host (born 1957)

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was the host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for 23 years (1983–2006). Burton received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesley Gore</span> American singer (1946–2015)

Lesley Gore was an American singer and songwriter. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song "It's My Party", a US number one in 1963. She followed it up with ten further US Billboard top 40 hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me". Gore said she considered "You Don't Own Me" her signature song.

<i>Frontline</i> (American TV program) PBS investigative journalism program

Frontline is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 42 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024, Frontline won its first Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, 20 Days in Mariupol, made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists. Frontline has produced over 800 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.

<i>Reading Rainbow</i> American childrens television series

Reading Rainbow is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes were produced over 23 seasons. Before its official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in the Nebraska and Buffalo, New York markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Moreno</span> Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress (born 1931)

Rita Moreno is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She has performed on stage and screen in a career spanning over eight decades. Moreno is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of the few actors to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT) and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy, and Tony awards. Additional accolades include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2015, and a Peabody Award in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Duke</span> American actress (1946–2016)

Anna Marie "Patty" Duke was an American actress. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<i>Dragon Tales</i> American-Canadian childrens animated series

Dragon Tales is an animated educational fantasy children's television series created by Jim Coane and Ron Rodecker, developed by Coane, Wesley Eure, Jeffrey Scott, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, and produced by the Children's Television Workshop, Columbia TriStar Television and Adelaide Productions. The series focuses on the adventures of two siblings, Emmy and Max, and their dragon friends Cassie, Ord, and Zak and Wheezie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonia Manzano</span> American actress

Sonia Manzano is an American actress, screenwriter, and author. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016.

Fanya Gottesfeld Heller was a noted Holocaust survivor, author and philanthropist. Born into a traditional Jewish family in a small village in Poland in 1924, she and her family hid from the Nazi death squads with the help of two Christian rescuers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mare Winningham</span> American actress and singer-songwriter (born 1959)

Mary Megan Winningham, known professionally as Mare Winningham, is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Strout</span> American writer

Elizabeth Strout is an American novelist and author. She is widely known for her works in literary fiction and her descriptive characterization. She was born and raised in Portland, Maine, and her experiences in her youth served as inspiration for her novels–the fictional "Shirley Falls, Maine" is the setting of four of her nine novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesley Nicol (actress)</span> English actress (born 1953)

Lesley Nicol is an English actress, a three-time SAG Award winner in the Best Cast in a Drama Series category for her role as Beryl Patmore in the ITV and PBS drama TV series Downton Abbey. She also starred in the 2019 feature film adaptation of the series and its 2022 sequel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oren Moverman</span> American film producer

Oren Moverman is an Israeli American, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, film director, and Emmy Award-winning film producer. He has directed the films The Messenger, Rampart, Time Out of Mind, and The Dinner. He also directed the Paramount+ documentary series "Willie Nelson & Family" with Thom Zimny.

Alice Elliott is a documentary filmmaker, director, writer, producer, advocate for people with disabilities, and a member of New Day Films, an educational film distribution cooperative. She is also an Associate Arts Professor and Area Head of Documentary Studies at NYU. Elliott received a NY Emmy for Miracle on 42nd Street, and has been nominated for an Academy Award for The Collector of Bedford Street.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming was an Emmy award given to performers in television programming .During the 1970s and 1980s, guest performers in dramatic specials and regular performers on children's series competed in the same category. However, starting in 1989, separate categories for performances in children's series and performances in children's specials were created and used until after 2007 when all categories related to Children's Specials were dropped.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Series was an Emmy award given to television programming aimed towards children. Children's television had been recognized at the Emmys since the inaugural year. In 1995, a separate award for pre-school children's television was created, and the two categories had been recognized since then. Starting in 2018, a distinction between children's series and educational series was created, resulting in two separate categories. In November 2021, it was announced that all Daytime Emmy categories honoring children's programming would be retired in favor of a separate Children's & Family Emmy Awards ceremony that was held starting in 2022.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing For A Children's Series was an Emmy award honoring direction in children's television programming. Since 1979, direction in children's series and specials competed in the same category. However, by the nineties, separate categories were created for the two mediums. In November 2021, it was announced that all Daytime Emmy categories honoring children's programming will be retired in favor of a separate Children's & Family Emmy Awards ceremony that will be held starting in 2022.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Children's Series was an Emmy award honoring writing in children's television programming. Since the award's inception, writing in children's series and specials competed in the same category. However, starting in 1985, separate categories were created for series and specials. In November 2021, it was announced that all Daytime Emmy categories honoring children's programming will be retired in favor of a separate Children's & Family Emmy Awards ceremony that will be held starting in 2022.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the US for single-camera work in daytime television. The Daytime Emmy Awards are among the more prominent categories of Emmy Award.

References

  1. ↑ "ON SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT: ABOUT US". onscreenentertainment.net. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "About – Tonik Productions". tonikproductions.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  3. ↑ The Salina Journal (Salina, Kansas) 06 May 1996 p. 16
  4. ↑ "Reading Rainbow: The Wall". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Reading Rainbow Winners Announced". WQED Pressroom. June 4, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Documentary : Teenage Witness, based on the Holocaust memoir of Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, narrated by Richard Gere". fanyaheller.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. ↑ "Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides - About the Film - American Masters - PBS". pbs.org. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Fries, Laura (17 February 2005). "Miracle's Boys". variety.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. ↑ Dempsey, John (15 January 2002). "Silver, Wiseman anchor p'gramming arm". variety.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. ↑ "Wanted: Partners in the Journey - Hydrocephalus Association". www.hydroassoc.org. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Our Team". Lalela. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.