Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy (born 1965 in Indianapolis) is an American producer, writer and director who has been one of the most visible figures in television over the past two decades. His importance lies in bringing marginalized characters to the centre of popular, widely watched series, both on broadcast networks and on streaming platforms.

Raised in a Catholic family in Indiana, he studied journalism at Indiana University and worked as a reporter for several newspapers and magazines before turning to screenwriting. His break came in the late 1990s, when Steven Spielberg bought one of his scripts. His first series, the teen comedy Popular, ran for two seasons on The WB. He then created Nip/Tuck, a drama about plastic surgery for FX that lasted six seasons and earned him his first Emmy, for directing.

With Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan he created Glee, a musical comedy about a high school choir that reached a large audience. He then developed American Horror Story, an anthology of horror stories that changes setting and much of its cast each season and became his longest-running project. He also produced Pose, set in the ballroom scene of 1980s New York and notable for casting more transgender actors than any scripted series before it, as well as Monster, an anthology about real crimes.

As a film director his output has been less consistent. He directed adaptations such as Eat Pray Love (2010) and the television version of The Normal Heart (2014), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. His legacy rests less on a recognisable visual style than on how he brought sexual and gender diversity into mainstream drama, and on the popularity of the anthology format he helped establish.