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Shonda Rhimes | |
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![]() Rhimes in 2016 | |
Born | Shonda Lynn Rhimes January 13, 1970 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Alma mater | |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1995–present |
Children | 3 |
Shonda Lynn Rhimes [1] (born January 13, 1970) [2] is an American television producer and screenwriter, and founder of the production company Shondaland. Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, [3] Rhimes became known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2005–present), its spin-off Private Practice (2007–2013) and the political thriller Scandal (2012–2018), becoming the first woman to create three television dramas that have achieved the 100 episode milestone. [4]
She has served as the executive producer of the ABC thriller series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020), the Netflix period series Bridgerton (2020–present) and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023), and drama Inventing Anna (2022). She has been nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, and received special honors at the British Academy Television Awards and International Emmy Awards.
In 2017, she was inducted as a Chair's Appointee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences‘s executive committee. [5] [6] She is also part of the USC Film Council and the Writers Guild Inclusion Committee. [7] [8]
In 2007, 2013, and 2021, Rhimes was named by Time to the Time 100, their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. [9] [10] As of 2023, she is one of the richest women entertainers in America, with a net worth of $250 million. [11] In 2015, she published her first book, a memoir, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person. In 2016, Rhimes formed The Rhimes Family Foundation whose mission is to support arts, education, and activism.
Rhimes was born in Chicago, Illinois, as the youngest of six children of Vera P. (née Cain), a college professor, and Ilee Rhimes Jr., a university administrator. [12] [13] Her mother attended college while raising their six children and earned a PhD in educational administration in 1991. Her father, who holds an MBA, became chief information officer (CIO) at the University of Southern California, serving until 2013. [14]
Rhimes lived in Park Forest South (now University Park, Illinois), with her two older brothers and three older sisters. She has said she exhibited an early affinity for storytelling. [15] While in high school, she served as a hospital volunteer, which inspired an interest in hospital environments. [16]
Raised Catholic, Rhimes attended Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois. [17] At Dartmouth College, she majored in English and film studies and earned her bachelor's degree in 1991. [18] [19] At Dartmouth, she joined the Black Underground Theater Association. She divided her time between directing and performing in student productions, and writing fiction. [18] She also wrote for the college newspaper. [20]
After college, she relocated to San Francisco with an older sibling and worked in advertising at McCann Erickson. [21] She subsequently moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California and study screenwriting. [15] Ranked at the top of her USC class, Rhimes earned the Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship. [21] She obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
While at USC, Rhimes was hired as an intern by Debra Martin Chase. Rhimes credits her early success, in part, to mentors such as Chase, a prominent African-American producer. Chase later again served as a mentor to Rhimes on The Princess Diaries 2 . Rhimes also worked at Denzel Washington's company, Mundy Lane Entertainment. [22]
After graduation, Rhimes was an unemployed scriptwriter in Hollywood. [15] To make ends meet, Rhimes worked at a variety of day jobs, including as an office administrator and then a counselor at a job center that taught job skills to people with housing instability and mental illness. During this period, Rhimes worked as research director on the documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995), which won the 1995 Peabody Award. [15] [21] In 1998, Rhimes made a short film, Blossoms and Veils, starring Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jeffrey Wright, which is her only credit as a film director. [15] New Line Cinema purchased a feature script of hers. Rhimes received an assignment to co-write the HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), which earned numerous awards for its star, Halle Berry. [15] [21]
In 2001, Rhimes wrote Crossroads , the debut film of pop singer Britney Spears. [23] Despite being panned by critics, the film grossed more than $60 million worldwide. [24] [25]
Rhimes next worked on writing Disney's sequel to its popular movie The Princess Diaries (2001). Although The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) did not score as well at the box office, Rhimes later said that she treasured the experience, if only for the opportunity to work with its star, Julie Andrews. [15] In 2003, Rhimes wrote her first TV pilot for ABC about young female war correspondents, but the network turned it down. [21] [22]
Rhimes is the creator and currently executive producer and head writer of Grey's Anatomy . The series debuted as a mid-season replacement on March 27, 2005. The series features the surgical staff at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital (later to be named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital), in Seattle, Washington. The series features an ensemble cast with Ellen Pompeo serving as titular character Meredith Grey, who provides narration for a majority of the series' episodes. [26]
In 2007, Rhimes created and produced the Grey's Anatomy spin-off series Private Practice , which debuted September 26, 2007, on ABC. The show chronicles the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as she leaves Seattle Grace Hospital for Los Angeles to join a private practice. The series also features an ensemble cast, including Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs among others. The first season was shortened because of a writers' strike; it has nine episodes. In May 2012, ABC picked up Private Practice for the 2012–13 television season with 13 episodes. The series finale aired January 22, 2013.
In 2010, Rhimes created a new pilot for ABC called Inside the Box, a female-centric ensemble drama set in a Washington, D.C. network news bureau. The lead character is Catherine, an ambitious female news producer who, with her colleagues, pursues "the story" at all costs while juggling their personal animosities and crises of conscience. [27] It was not picked up by the network. [28]
In 2011, Rhimes served as executive producer for the medical drama, Off the Map , which was created by Grey's Anatomy writer, Jenna Bans. It focuses on a group of doctors who practice medicine at a remote clinic in the Amazon jungle. [29] The series was officially cancelled by the ABC network on May 13, 2011. [30]
In May 2011, ABC ordered Rhimes' pilot script Scandal to series. Kerry Washington starred as Olivia Pope, a political crisis management expert. The character is partially based on former Bush administration press aide Judy Smith. [31] [32] The series debut aired on April 5, 2012. [33]
In 2012, Rhimes developed a pilot for a period drama, Gilded Lilys, but it was not picked up to series. [34] [35]
In December 2013, ABC ordered a pilot for a new Rhimes series, How to Get Away with Murder . [36] Actress Viola Davis joined the cast as the lead character in February 2014. [37] It was officially picked up to series on May 8, 2014. [38]
In March 2016, ABC premiered The Catch , a comedy-drama led by Rhimes based on a treatment by British author Kate Atkinson. It stars Mireille Enos and Peter Krause. [39] Later that month, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Grey's Anatomy were respectively picked up for their sixth, third and 13th seasons. The following year, it was announced that Scandal would conclude after its upcoming seventh season, while The Catch was cancelled after its second. [40]
On August 14, 2017, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive multi-year development deal with Rhimes, under which all of her future productions will be Netflix Original series. [41] The service had already purchased U.S. streaming rights to past episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos described Rhimes as being a "true Netflixer at heart" since "she loves TV and films, she cares passionately about her work, and she delivers for her audience". [40] The deal was considered to be a coup for Netflix due to Rhimes' prominence at ABC; it was also considered to be a counter toward the effort by Disney, ABC's parent company, to reduce the availability of their content on Netflix in favor of a planned subscription streaming service of their own. [40] [42]
As of October 2020, she was working on more than 12 projects for Netflix, extended her deal with Netflix. [43] The first production was Bridgerton , which was released in 2020 and became the most-watched series ever on the platform, [44] leading to the production of three seasons by 2024. [45] In 2021 Rhimes produced the drama miniseries Inventing Anna . [46] In April 2022, the production of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story conceived by Rhimes was announced, as a spin-off of Bridgerton. [47]
Rhimes adopted her first daughter in June 2002 and adopted another daughter in February 2012. [48] In September 2013, Rhimes welcomed her third daughter via gestational surrogacy. [49]
In 2014, Rhimes gave a commencement address at her alma mater, Dartmouth College, where she received an honorary doctorate. [50]
In September 2015, Rhimes revealed she had lost 117 pounds (53 kg) via exercise and dieting. [51] [52]
In April 2017, Rhimes joined the national board of Planned Parenthood. [53] Later that same year, Rhimes and Katie McGrath co-founded Time's Up, and both of them donated the funds to hire its first seven employees. [54]
In 2019, Rhimes joined the organization When We All Vote as a co-chair. [55] This organization was founded to get out the vote prior to the 2020 general election.
Shondaland is the name of Rhimes's production company. [56] Shondaland and its logo also refer to the shows Rhimes has produced [57] and to Rhimes herself. Shows included in Shondaland are:
Year | Title | Credited as | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creator | Director | Writer | Producer | ||
1995 | Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream | No | Yes [58] | No | No |
1998 | Blossoms and Veils | No | Yes | Yes | No |
1999 | Introducing Dorothy Dandridge | No | No | Yes | No |
2002 | Crossroads | No | No | Yes | No |
2004 | The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement | No | No | Yes | No |
2005–present | Grey's Anatomy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2007–2013 | Private Practice | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2009 | Inside the Box | No | No | No | Yes |
2009 | Seattle Grace: On Call | Yes | No | No | Yes |
2009 | Seattle Grace: Message of Hope | Yes | No | No | Yes |
2011 | Off the Map | No | No | No | Yes |
2012 | Gilded Lilys | No | No | No | Yes |
2012–2018 | Scandal | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2014–2020 | How to Get Away with Murder | No | No | No | Yes |
2016–2017 | The Catch | No | No | No | Yes |
2017 | Still Star-Crossed | No | No | No | Yes |
2018–2019 | For the People | No | No | No | Yes |
2018–2024 | Station 19 | No | No | No | Yes |
2020–present | Bridgerton | No | No | No | Yes |
2022 | Inventing Anna | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2023 | Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
2025 | The Residence | TBA | TBA | TBA | Yes |
Winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama in 2006 for Grey's Anatomy , Rhimes won the International Emmy Founders Award and the Special Award at the British Academy Television Awards. She also received special honorees for her works at the Costume Designers Guild Awards, Directors Guild of America Award, ICG Publicists Awards, Writers Guild of America Award and Producers Guild of America Awards. [60]
Tom Verica is an American actor, director, and producer, best known for his role as Sam Keating in the ABC drama How to Get Away with Murder (2014-2020). He also played Jack Pryor in the NBC critically acclaimed drama American Dreams from 2002-2004. As a director, he is known for Shonda Rhimes' dramas. He currently is an executive producer and director of the Netflix drama Bridgerton. From 2012 to 2018, Verica served as executive producer and director of ABC Scandal.
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, later named the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. The series premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The show's title is an allusion to Gray's Anatomy, a classic human anatomy textbook. Writer Shonda Rhimes developed the pilot and served as showrunner, head writer, and executive producer until stepping down in 2015. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series is filmed primarily in Los Angeles, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Ellen Kathleen Pompeo is an American actress. One of the world's highest-paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on Forbes' year-end lists. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Krista Vernoff is an American television screenwriter, executive producer and director. She is best known for being the showrunner for Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off, Station 19 (2019–2023). She has also served as executive producer and writer for Shameless. Other works as producer-writer for television include Charmed and Wonderfalls.
Joan Rater is an American television producer and screenwriter. Her most notable work has been for the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, for which she has served as writer, producer and supervising producer for over fifty separate episodes. She is married to Tony Phelan who also works on the show.
Preston Xavier Burke, M.D., F.A.C.S., is a fictional character from the medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, which airs on ABC in the United States. The character was created by series producer Shonda Rhimes, and was portrayed by actor Isaiah Washington from 2005 to 2007. Burke is introduced as an attending cardiothoracic surgeon at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, and his romantic relationship with intern Cristina Yang becomes one of the central storylines of the show during its first three seasons.
Jenna Bans is an American screenwriter. Bans is a producer and writer on Grey's Anatomy, and is the creator and the co-producer of Off the Map, a series which premiered on ABC in January 2011, and was cancelled on May 13, 2011. From 2012 to 2014, she was the regular writer and co-executive producer on another Shonda Rhimes created drama, Scandal, on ABC.
Chris Van Dusen is an American television producer and screenwriter. He is the creator and executive producer of the television series Bridgerton, and served as showrunner for seasons one and two.
Joan Rater is an American television producer and screenwriter. Her most notable work has been for the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, for which she has served as writer, producer and supervising producer for over fifty separate episodes. She is married to Tony Phelan who also works on the show.
Betsy Beers is an American television and film producer whose credits include ShondaLand's Grey's Anatomy,Scandal,Private Practice, How to Get Away with Murder, The Catch, Station 19, For the People, and Bridgerton.
Julie Anne Robinson is a British theatre, television, film director and producer based in the United States and United Kingdom.
Scandal is an American political thriller television series starring Kerry Washington. Created by Shonda Rhimes, it aired on ABC from April 5, 2012, until April 19, 2018, for 124 episodes over seven seasons. Kerry Washington's character, Olivia Pope, is partially based on former George H. W. Bush administration press aide Judy Smith, who served as a co-executive producer.
Katie Quinn Lowes is an American actress and theater director. She is best known for her role as Quinn Perkins in the ABC political drama series Scandal (2012–2018) and her portrayal of Rachel DeLoache Williams in the Netflix drama series Inventing Anna (2022).
How to Get Away with Murder is an American legal drama thriller television series that premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios, airing as part of a night of programming under Rhimes' Shondaland production company.
Peter Nowalk is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator of the legal thriller, How to Get Away with Murder.
Shondaland is an American television production company founded by television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first series, the medical drama Grey's Anatomy in 2005. It has since gone on to produce Rhimes's other creations, Grey's spinoff Private Practice and the political drama Scandal, and her other productions—the short-lived Off the Map, the Viola Davis-starring legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder, and the crime thriller The Catch—all of which are co-produced with ABC Studios and air on ABC. As of 2017, it has a partnership affiliation with Netflix creating shows like Bridgerton and the spin-off Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
The Catch is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from March 24, 2016, to May 11, 2017. It stars Mireille Enos and Peter Krause, was created by Jennifer Schuur, Kate Atkinson, and Helen Gregory, and developed by Allan Heinberg, and was executive produced by Shondaland's Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. Julie Anne Robinson also served as an executive producer and directed the pilot episode. In May 2016, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on March 9, 2017. In May 2017, the series was canceled after two seasons.
Inventing Anna is an American drama television miniseries created by Shonda Rhimes, inspired by the story of Anna Sorokin and the article in New York titled "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pressler. It was produced by Shondaland. Netflix released the miniseries on February 11, 2022.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is an American historical fiction television limited series created by Shonda Rhimes for Netflix. The series is a prequel spin-off of the Netflix series Bridgerton. The story is loosely based on an alternate history take on the rise of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to prominence and power in the late 18th century. The series premiered on May 4, 2023, and consists of 6 episodes that are roughly an hour in runtime each.
...TV producer Shonda Rhimes in 1970 (age 51)…
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Seven full-time staff members were hired with seed money from two of the co-founders, television producer Shonda Rhimes ("Grey's Anatomy") and producer Katie McGrath