Carolyn Strauss (born July 13, 1963) is an American television producer and executive. She was promoted to

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's head of original programming in 1990 and commissioned widely successful HBO series such as ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', '' Six Feet Under'', ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'', and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

''. After 10 months as president of HBO's entertainment division, she left the position to focus on her producing career in 2008; she was given a production deal with HBO and has since served as an executive producer on the series '' Treme'', ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'', ''

Luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at a ...

'', and '' The Last of Us''.

Early life

Carolyn Strauss was born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coterminous municipality, coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate ...

, on July 13, 1963. She graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

with a BA in History.

Career

Although she had no intentions of working in television, Strauss started her career as a temp in the documentaries department of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

branch in 1986. Within 10 months, she had secured a full-time job there as the assistant to the head of original programming. In 1990, she was promoted to HBO's head of original programming and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she later commissioned widely successful HBO series such as ''

'', ''

'', '' Six Feet Under'', ''

'', and ''

''. After 10 months of serving as president of HBO's entertainment division, she left the position to focus on her producing career in 2008. She was given a production deal with HBO and has since served as an executive producer on series such as ''

'', '' Treme'', ''

'', '' Somebody Somewhere'', and '' The Last of Us''.

Personal life

Strauss is gay. She has lived in

since 1990. In August 2015, Strauss and 97 other members of

' Jewish community signed an open letter supporting the Iran nuclear deal framework.

Filmography

All credits are as executive producer. * '' Treme'' (2010–2013) * ''

'' (2011–2019) * ''

'' (2011–2012) * ''

The Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...

'' (2014) * '' Chernobyl'' (2019) * '' Deadwood: The Movie'' (2019) *'' The Baby'' (2022) *'' Somebody Somewhere'' (2022–present) *'' The Last of Us'' (2023–present)

Accolades

References

External links

* 1963 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American LGBTQ people American LGBTQ businesspeople American television executives American women television executives American women television producers Businesspeople from New York (state) Harvard College alumni HBO people Jews from New York (state) LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ television producers Living people People from Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale High School alumni Television producers from New York (state) {{US-tv-producer-stub