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Ryan Murphy at an event for Eat Pray Love (2010)

Biography

Ryan Murphy

Overview

  • Born
    November 9, 1965 · Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
  • Height
    6′ (1.83 m)

Biography

  • Born November 9, 1965 in Indianapolis, Indiana, US as Ryan Patrick Murphy, he is an American writer, director, and producer, responsible for creating such hits as Nip/Tuck (2003), Glee (2009) and American Horror Story (2011). His mother, J. Andy Murphy, was a writer and communications worker and his father was a circulation director in the newspaper industry. He has one brother. He attended a Catholic school till the eighth grade and graduated from Warren Central High School. He went on to study journalism at the Indiana University Bloomington, where he was also a member of a vocal ensemble, and went on to intern in the style section of the The Washington Post in 1986. In 1990 he got into screenwriting, but only in 1999 was his first story produced: it was Popular (1999), a teen comedy show, which he co-created with Gina Matthews and which run for two seasons. In 2003 he created Nip/Tuck (2003), which brought him his first Emmy nomination. He won the award six years later, when in 2009 he directed the pilot of his hit series Glee (2009) which he co-created with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk. In 2011 he and Falchuk co-crated another highly popular series, American Horror Story (2011). in 2015 he was awarded the Award for Inspiration from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2018 Murphy signed a five-year $300 million development deal with Netflix. He is a pan equal opportunities activist, both through his movies and television projects which very often focus on the LGBTQ+ community, and as a creator of the Half Initiative, which aims at making Hollywood more inclusive for women and minorities. He's been married to photographer David Miller since 2012. They have three sons, Logan Phineas, Ford, and Griffin Sullivan.
    - IMDb mini biography by: Evil_Herbivore

Family

  • Spouse
      David Miller(July 4, 2012 - present) (3 children)
  • Parents
      J. Andy Murphy
      Jim Murphy

Trademarks

  • Frequently casts Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Jessica Lange, Finn Wittrock, among other regulars in his works.

Trivia

  • During high school he was president of a Meryl Streep fan club.
  • He's famous for getting in touch directly with the actors he admires and wants to cast, proposing characters and assuring he would tailor them if needed.
  • In June 2017, he, his production company Ryan Murphy Productions as well as FX, were sued by Olivia de Havilland due to what she felt was an unauthorized and inaccurate portrayal of her in the show Feud (2017)'s first season "Bette and Joan". A statement from her lawyers read: "Miss de Havilland was not asked by FX for permission to use her name and identity and was not compensated for such use." "Further, the FX series puts words in the mouth of Miss de Havilland which are inaccurate and contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life, specifically refusing to engage in gossip mongering about other actors in order to generate media attention for herself.".
  • Worked as a freelance journalist before transitioning to show business. The television series Nip/Tuck (2003) was in fact inspired by an unpublished expose written by Murphy. The series' famous recurring line came directly from the plastic surgeon he met for a consultation: "Mr. Murphy, tell me what you don't like about yourself?".
  • His favorite movies of all time are I Married a Witch (1942), Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974) and Network (1976).

Quotes

  • Ah, my famous cologne. It's because when I was growing up, I could only afford that cheap Halston stuff.
  • Face it, I'm legend. It's happened.
  • [on Network (1976)]: I just loved it. I remember seeing it as a kid and being absolutely fascinated because it's people doing terrible things and yet you understand why they're doing them. I was very inspired by that when I made Running with Scissors (2006)". It was the same idea.
  • I think it's only natural to be influenced by the filmmakers and things that you gravitate to when you were younger. I think my first seminal television moment was my grandmother forcing me, sobbing and screaming, to watch 'Dark Shadows'. She would make me sit through it to toughen me, I think. And when I was bad I had to watch 'The Waltons'.
  • [on what people may not know about him] I'm a softy. There was this turning point for me -- and not in a good way -- when I did "The Glee Project." When I started, I was like, "OK, I'm going to go from being an artist to a Simon Cowell personality." That was my role, and I was really nervous about it. I loved the show, but it was sort of soul-robbing, and I think that people thought that I was that person, the Darth Vader of musical theater. To this day, I look back on episodes, and it kills me that I had to cut those kids. I sort of wish I had done that show and not been in it.

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