Glenn Weiss (born 6 September 1961) is an American producer and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of television and live events. He has won 14 Emmy Awards and eight

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

awards as a director and producer for various awards shows and reality shows including the

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

, Kennedy Center Honors, and

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Early life

Weiss was raised in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. He graduated from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1983.

Career

Weiss started his career working at the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

bureau of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

before becoming a producer and director at Fox affiliate

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA sh ...

. His first national credit was '' America's Most Wanted'', followed by other shows including '' Studs'', '' Legends of the Hidden Temple'', ''

Gladiators 2000 ''Gladiators 2000'' is a children's game show and spin-off of '' American Gladiators''. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Maria Sansone (replaced by Valarie Rae Miller in Season 2). Season 5 ''American Gladiators'' grand champion Peggy Odita se ...

'', and talk shows hosted by

Jane Pratt Jane Pratt (born November 11, 1962) is the founding editor of '' Sassy'', ''Jane and'' xoJane. She is the host of the talk show ''Jane Radio'' on Sirius XM Radio. Early life Jane Pratt was born in San Francisco, California, to Sheila Marks Blake ...

and

Tempestt Bledsoe Tempestt Bledsoe (born August 1, 1973) is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Vanessa Huxtable, the fourth child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–92). In December ...

in the years since. As of 2018, Weiss has won 14 Emmy Awards, and, as of 2015, five

Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and has been nominated for

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing establishment w ...

Awards. Weiss has also directed numerous televised events, including 20

, 7

, for which he has garnered three directing Primetime Emmys and has directed and produced Primetime Emmy Awards. Other directing credits include the Kennedy Center Honors,

CableACE Awards The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

, Billboard Music Awards,

BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...

Peter Pan Live! ''Peter Pan Live!'' is an American television special that was broadcast by NBC on December 4, 2014. The special featured a live production of the 1954 musical adaptation of ''Peter Pan'', televised from Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York, sta ...

, '' The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage!'', Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards,

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' (''NYRE'') is an annual New Year's Eve television special broadcast by ABC. The special broadcasts primarily from New York City's Times Square and prominently features coverage of its annual ball drop ev ...

, Primetime Emmy Awards,

Live from Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that has broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS since 1976. The program airs between six and nine times per season. Episodes of '' ...

, and the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

. He also directed the 2020 DNC. Weiss was the director of the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its usual late February dat ...

. According to executive Rob Mills in a Variety article referring to the Will Smith and Chris Rock incident, “One quick shout out I want to give is to the director Glenn Weiss. I was in the truck with him in our control room on New Year’s Eve when Mariah Carey was having some vocal issues singing. I was with him when they did the wrong envelope on ‘La La Land’ and I was with him last night. And there is nobody who keeps a cooler head and just keeps the show moving along. While obviously, knowing exactly what’s happening. He really is the best in these situations.”.

Personal life

During the

70th Primetime Emmy Awards The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2017, until May 31, 2018, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held live on September 17, 2018, at the Mi ...

on September 18th, 2018, Weiss made headlines by proposing to long-time girlfriend Jan Svendsen during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for his work on that year's

. He proposed by saying, "You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife." The ring previously belonged to his mother, who had died two and a half weeks prior. The moment was widely shared on social media platforms

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and Instagram.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Glenn 1961 births 20th-century American Jews American television directors American television producers Emmy Award winners Living people University of Maryland, College Park alumni 21st-century American Jews