Paris Barclay

Paris Barclay

Birthday: June 30
Birthplace: Chicago Heights, Illinois

A preeminent force in television entertainment, Paris Barclay has directed nearly 200 episodes of television and was active as a Director/Producer for series including: Station 19, Pitch, Sons of Anarchy, In Treatment, Cold Case, City of Angels and NYPD Blue.

A preeminent force in television entertainment, Paris Barclay has directed nearly 200 episodes of television and was active as a Director/Producer for series including: Station 19, Pitch, Sons of Anarchy, In Treatment, Cold Case, City of Angels and NYPD Blue. He also has directed episodes of a wide variety of series including Scandal, The Good Wife, Empire, House, NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI, Lost, The Shield, The West Wing and ER; as well as three films: the feature "Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood;" and the movies for television "The Cherokee Kid" and "The Big Time." He earned two Emmy Awards and the DGA award for Outstanding Direction of a Drama Series for NYPD Blue, received seven additional Emmy nominations for both producing and directing, and garnered ten other DGA Award nominations for shows as diverse as Glee, In Treatment, The West Wing, House, and most recently Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. He was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 2014, and was made an Honorary Life Member of the Directors Guild in 2021, after serving two terms as its president.

A DGA member since 1992, Barclay was the first African-American and openly gay President in the Guild’s history. In addition to his two terms as President of the Guild, his service includes numerous terms on the National Board, the Western Directors Council and chairmanship and participation in several committees, including co-chairing the Television Creative Rights Committee, the Return to Work Negotiations Committee, and the African-American Steering Committee. He was honored with the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award in 2007, which is given for providing extraordinary service to the DGA, and in 2021 was given the Honorary Life Member Award, the Guild’s highest honor for both service and career achievement. He currently serves as the Guild’s Secretary/Treasurer.

A WGA member before he was a DGA member, Barclay co-created and wrote for the CBS series City of Angels with Nicholas Wootton and Steven Bochco, which ran for two years on the network. He co-wrote with James DeMonaco the Showtime pilot Hate, and has written other pilots for CBS and NBC. He wrote with Dustin Lance Black (on his first WGA-credited project) "Pedro," a film about the life of Pedro Zamora for MTV, which received a Writers Guild nomination. As a playwright and composer, he has had musical dramas produced by Soho Rep, The Village Theatre, the Signature Theater, and the North Shore Music Theatre among others – including One Red Flower – adapted from soldiers letters written during the Vietnam War.

Prior to his career in television and film, Barclay was a sought-after music video director. He created groundbreaking videos for Bob Dylan, the New Kids on the Block, Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross, Harry Connick, Jr. among others. His eight videos for LL Cool J, including the MTV, Billboard, and Grammy-winning “Mama Said Knock You Out,” are still widely viewed and imitated today.

In 2022, Paris had six episodes he directed premiere in collaboration with Ryan Murphy: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Watcher, and American Horror Story: NYC. In 2023, he filmed two episode of the upcoming Aaron Hernandez biopic series for FX, American Sports Story: Gladiator. He recently wrapped postproduction on a feature documentary he co-wrote and directed about the famed musician Billy Preston, with interviews from Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Olivia Harrison, Sandra Crouch, and Merry Clayton among others. He is currently in production on two episodes of the second season of the Netflix series of Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.

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Awards & Nominations

9 Nominations | 2 Emmys
Outstanding Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie - 2023
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series - 2014
  • Nominee
  • Paris Barclay, Directed by
  • Glee
  • "100"
  • FOX
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series - 2013
  • Nominee
  • Paris Barclay
  • Glee
  • "Diva"
  • FOX
  • Ryan Murphy Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series - 2010
  • Nominee
  • Paris Barclay, Director
  • Glee
  • "Wheels"
  • FOX
  • Ryan Murphy Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
Outstanding Drama Series - 1999
Outstanding Drama Series - 1998

The Television Academy database lists prime-time Emmy information. Click here to learn more

Paris Barclay and Kurt Sutter at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.
Maggis Siff, Jimmy Smits, Dayton Callie and Paris Barclay at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.
Gail Mancuso, Jodie Foster and Paris Barclay at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Gail Mancuso, Paris Barclay and Craig Spirko at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Louis Horvitz, Gregg Gelfand and Paris Barclay at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Paris Barclay, Gail Mancuso and Bruce Rosenblum at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Paris Barclay
Bruce Rosenblum and Paris Barclay
Paris Barclay, Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Dayton Callie, and Jimmy Smits
Meg Masters, Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Jimmy Smits, Dayton Callie, Paris Barclay
Directors Nominee Reception 2013
Paris Barclay
Kurt Sutter, Paris Barclay, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Sif
The cast & co-creators of Glee with Maria Shriver and Dana Delany at the 3rd Television Academy Honors
Fill 1
Fill 1
Paris Barclay and Kurt Sutter at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.
Camera

Paris Barclay and Kurt Sutter at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.

Frank Micelotta/Invision
Maggis Siff, Jimmy Smits, Dayton Callie and Paris Barclay at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.
Camera

Maggis Siff, Jimmy Smits, Dayton Callie and Paris Barclay at An Evening with Sons of Anarchy.

Frank Micelotta/Invision
Gail Mancuso, Jodie Foster and Paris Barclay at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Camera

Gail Mancuso, Jodie Foster and Paris Barclay at the Directors nominee reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Gail Mancuso, Paris Barclay and Craig Spirko at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Camera

Gail Mancuso, Paris Barclay and Craig Spirko at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Louis Horvitz, Gregg Gelfand and Paris Barclay at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Camera

Louis Horvitz, Gregg Gelfand and Paris Barclay at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Paris Barclay, Gail Mancuso and Bruce Rosenblum at the Directors Nominee Reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.
Camera

Paris Barclay, Gail Mancuso and Bruce Rosenblum at the Directors nominee reception at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Paris Barclay
Camera
Tonya Wise/Invision
Bruce Rosenblum and Paris Barclay
Camera
Frank Micelotta/Invision
Paris Barclay, Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Dayton Callie, and Jimmy Smits
Camera
Frank Micelotta/Invision
Meg Masters, Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Jimmy Smits, Dayton Callie, Paris Barclay
Camera
Frank Micelotta/Invision
Directors Nominee Reception 2013
Camera
Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP
Paris Barclay
Camera
Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP
Kurt Sutter, Paris Barclay, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Sif
The cast & co-creators of Glee with Maria Shriver and Dana Delany at the 3rd Television Academy Honors
Camera
Mathew Imaging
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