Ezra Benjamin Edelman (born August 6, 1974) is an American documentary producer and director. He won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

and the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program is awarded to one program each year. The category was split in 2018 to separately recognize documentary/nonfiction and reality programs. In the following lis ...

for directing '' O.J.: Made in America'' (2016).

Early life and education

Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the son of

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary ...

, former civil rights leader and aide to

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

and founder and president of the

Children's Defense Fund The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on child advocacy and research. It was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. History The CDF was founded in 1973, ci ...

, and

Peter Edelman Peter Benjamin Edelman (born January 9, 1938) is an American lawyer, policy-maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. He worked as an ai ...

, former aide to Senator

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

, former

Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) is the principal advisory group to the United States Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on policy development and provides coordination and sup ...

, and professor at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment a ...

. His father is

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 ...

. He has two brothers, Joshua, an educational administrator, and

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spo ...

, co-founder and CEO of

Stand for Children Stand for Children is an American education advocacy group. Founded in 1996 following a Children's Defense Fund rallySwanee Hunt. "Young Man with a Strong Voice for America's Children." ''The Beaufort Gazette'', June 11, 2005. the non-profit advo ...

. His parents were the first interracial marriage in Virginia after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the state's miscegenation law in Loving v. Virginia. His paternal great-grandfather was a Polish rabbi who was killed during the Holocaust and his maternal grandfather was a Baptist minister; he was raised in both faiths. Edelman graduated from

Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas W. Sidwell, its motto is ' ( en, Let the light shine out from all), al ...

in Washington D.C. in July 1992, before going on to earn his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Career

Documentary projects

Edelman is best known for producing and directing the Academy Award-winning 2016 documentary film '' O.J.: Made in America'' for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

''. In his Oscar acceptance speech, Edelman dedicated the award to Nicole Brown Simpson and

Ron Goldman Ronald Lyle Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994) was an American restaurant waiter and a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of the American football player O.J. Simpson. He was murdered, along with Brown, at her home in Los Angele ...

, whom O. J. Simpson had been tried and acquitted of murdering in 1995. Previously he directed three

HBO Sports Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, 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 ba ...

documentaries: '' Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals'', ''The Curious Case of Curt Flood'' (2011) and the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning '' Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush''. He also wrote and directed a special on the former

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

called ''Requiem for the Big East,'' also a part of the ''

'' series. Edelman produced '' Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas'', an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, 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 ba ...

documentary series that ran for two seasons. Edelman is set to direct a

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early dea ...

biopic for

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...

Personal life

Edelman lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York City.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edelman, Ezra Television producers from Massachusetts American television directors African-American television directors African-American Jews Living people 1974 births Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners People from Boston American people of Polish-Jewish descent Primetime Emmy Award winners 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people