David Collins (born 1967) is an American television and film producer. He is best known for creating the reality television series ''

Queer Eye ''Queer Eye'' is a television franchise based upon a team of gay professionals (the "Fab 5") giving lifestyle and fashion makeovers to guests. ''Queer Eye'' may refer to: * ''Queer Eye'' (2003 TV series), an American reality television series on ...

''.

Early life

Collins was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. As a teenager, he was a member of the

Future Farmers of America The National FFA Organization or FFA is an American nonprofit career and technical student organization, which offers middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV) was founded in ...

and planned to become a veterinarian. Collins attended Lakota High School, where he was class president and a member of the school choir. Collins studied film and television at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, graduating in 1989.

Career

His first job in the film industry was working as a production assistant on

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. Foster started her career as a child actor before establishing herself as leading actress in film. She has received List of awards and nominations re ...

's directorial debut, ''

Little Man Tate ''Little Man Tate'' is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-a ...

''. Collins then moved to Boston and started Scout Productions with Michael Williams in 1994. Under the banner of Scout, Collins produced such films as '' Six Ways to Sunday'' and ''

Session 9 ''Session 9'' is a 2001 American psychological horror film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Anderson and Stephen Gevedon. It stars David Caruso, Peter Mullan, Brendan Sexton III, Josh Lucas, and Gevedon as an asbestos abatement crew wh ...

''. In 2001, Collins came up with the idea for a makeover series with a team of gay "experts" making over a straight man. ''Queer Eye'' debuted on July 5, 2003 on

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, attracting 1.6 million viewers. The series soon achieved a viewership of 2.3 million, becoming the highest-rated show on the network. ''Queer Eye'' ran for five seasons with Collins winning several awards for producing, including a

Producers Guild of America Award Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes ...

and a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program is handed out annually at the Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremony. In 2014, Outstanding Reality Program was separated into two categories – Outstanding Unstructured Reality Pr ...

. Collins went on to produce the documentary series ''

Big Ideas for a Small Planet ''Big Ideas for a Small Planet'' is an American television documentary series on the SundanceTV, Sundance Channel which focuses on environmentalism, environmental innovations such as alternative fuel and green building techniques. The series prem ...

'' and the television series ''Cheerleader Camp''. In 2017, he approached

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

to reboot ''Queer Eye''. The first season was released on February 7, 2018 to largely positive critical reviews. The reboot earned Collins another 5 consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards starting in 2018. In addition to his work as a producer, Collins has also appeared in

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ads.

References

Ohio University alumni People from West Chester, Butler County, Ohio 1967 births Living people Film producers from Ohio Television producers from Ohio Primetime Emmy Award winners {{US-tv-producer-stub