Biography

RYAN SUFFERN is a Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker with over 15 years of experience in documentary storytelling. His work spans music, sports and social impact, consistently grounded in character-driven narratives with a strong emotional core.

As a director, Suffern helmed the award-winning FINDING OSCAR, which Steven Spielberg executive produced in association with USC Shoah Foundation. Suffern also co-directed and produced JAZZ FEST: A NEW ORLEANS STORY, which won a Grammy for Best Music Film. Suffern directed the two-part documentary MR. A & MR. M: THE STORY OF A&M RECORDS, along with A FINAL CUT FOR ORSON: 40 YEARS IN THE MAKING, documenting the finishing of Orson Welles’s final film.

Suffern has produced numerous other documentary titles, including ADAPTIVE, WATERSHED, SATAN & ADAM, THE CHINA HUSTLE, and the Emmy-nominated docuseries LAUREL CANYON: A PLACE IN TIME. Suffern also served as an executive producer on THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART; McCARTNEY 3,2,1, THE GIFT: THE JOURNEY OF JOHNNY CASH, OMOIYARI: A SONG FILM BY KISHI BASHI, THE SPACE RACE, RATHER and PAPERTOWN.

After teaming up with Frank Marshall on ESPN’s award-winning RIGHT TO PLAY, which Suffern edited and helped to film, he went on to co-found the documentary division for The Kennedy/Marshall Company, which he headed up until 2021. Suffern has produced and/or directed documentaries for Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Sony Pictures Classics, Magnolia Pictures, MTV Docs, ESPN, EPIX, NatGeo, YouTube Originals, Vice Sports, Logo, Rolling Stone and The New Yorker. In the branded space, Suffern has also produced a short documentary for Carhartt and and the award-winning short-form series, BUILT TO MOVE, for Autodesk.

Suffern is originally from the Chicago suburbs and was an English major at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After college, Suffern cut his teeth in the film industry, working as a set PA in Chicago’s independent film scene. He eventually came to Los Angeles in 2002, continuing as a set PA, until he was fortunate enough to earn a spot as one of Steven Spielberg’s assistants. While working for Spielberg, Suffern had the responsibility of documenting the behind-the-scenes for four different films, which was essentially the beginning of his documentary filmmaking career.

Suffern is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America. He is repped by the United Talent Agency.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ryan Suffern