Paris Barclay, a TV/Film influence!

Paris Barclay

Paris Barclay was born on this date in 1956. He is an African-American television director and producer.

Born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Paris KC Barclay was one of the first African-Americans to attend the La Lumiere School, a prestigious, private preparatory school in La Porte, IN, on scholarship. He went to Harvard College, where he was active in student musical theatre productions. While at Harvard, he wrote 16 musicals, including the annual Hasty Pudding shows; he was a classmate of Supreme Court Judge John Roberts.

Following graduation, he worked in advertising and then moved into music video directing and production. Before his career began as a television director, Barclay directed commercials and music videos. He created videos for Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Janet Jackson, and Luther Vandross, and most notably, eight videos for LL Cool J including the innovative and MTV- Award winning "Mama Said Knock You Out."

An episode of Angel Street began his career in television direction. During the 1990s he had a long association with Steven Bochco, primarily on NYPD Blue. Together they created City of Angels, a medical drama with a predominantly African-American cast. Since that time he has directed a wide variety of one-hour television dramas. He has produced on the series Cold Case, of which he has also directed eight episodes. He has also been nominated for a Directors Guild of America (DGA) award for directing episodes of ER, House, the West Wing, Lost, CSI, Dirt, and numerous episodes of The Shield.

Openly gay since late in his college days, he had been a regular contributor to The Advocate for several years. He won two Emmy Awards as well as a award for directing episodes of NYPD Blue, and has received numerous other accolades (including the Peabody Award, and two NAACP Image Awards).

In 2001, he wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the musical "One Red Flower," based on the collection Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam. It has been produced in Boston, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C.

Currently, Barclay is the co-executive producer and principal director of HBO's upcoming drama series, In Treatment, starring Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest, Blair Underwood, Josh Charles, and Melissa George.

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