Friedman began dancing at the age of 11 in his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, and appeared in various dance shows including Newsies, and Kids Incorporated. By the age of 16, he was responsible for his own dance studio.
Friedman also appeared in a singing group, "Blessed With Soul", along with Brittany Murphy, but left to pursue a career in dance.
Friedman also co-owned a dance studio with his mother, Judi Friedman, called The Dance Source. It closed in 2000, so he could focus full-time on choreography.[citation needed]
In 2019, he was responsible for choreographing all musical numbers in Melanie Martinez' first movie, K–12.
His most recent work is with Itzy, a rising girl group based in South Korea, for their new comeback single, “Icy”.
Television
Friedman appeared as a judge and choreographer on the show So You Think You Can Dance?. After two seasons, Friedman was offered a contract by Simon Cowell to appear on his show, Grease Is the Word alongside Sinitta, David Ian, and David Gest. The show lasted only one series. In 2007, Friedman became a judge and the replacement for Louis Walsh on the British series of The X Factor alongside Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, and fellow new judge Dannii Minogue, as part of a revamp to the show in series 4. On June 22, after completing auditions in London, it was announced that Friedman had stepped down as a judge and would be replaced by Walsh. Subsequently, Cowell created a brand new on-camera position for Friedman as creative director. As creative director, he was able to work with the contestants of the show as well as the judges, Osbourne, Cowell, Minogue, Walsh, and later Cheryl Cole, who replaced Osbourne.
Friedman left the British show in 2010, and was re-contracted to work on the American version of the show, The X Factor, alongside the contestants and judges; Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul, and formerly Cheryl Cole.
Friedman finished his judging duties on MTV's Top Pop Group and directed, choreographed, and danced on Dancing with the Stars, before acting as producer and creative director for America's Got Talent, and as creative director for The X Factor USA.
In 2012, Friedman returned to work on The X Factor UK for the ninth series alongside the judges Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, Nicole Scherzinger, and Louis Walsh for the first three weeks of the live shows. After this, Friedman flew back to Los Angeles to work with the acts permanently on the live shows of the second season of the American version alongside Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, and new judges Demi Lovato and Britney Spears. He left the show after the second season, and Jamie King took his position in the third season. He appeared in one episode of Welling Films' dance series Avengers of eXtreme Illusions.[citation needed]
In an early 2015 interview with Attitude magazine for its Love & Marriage commemorative special issue, Friedman and his partner, Daniel Brown, announced plans for their upcoming wedding.[4]
^White, Betty (August 6, 2005). "Five for Fighting". TVgasm. Archived from the original on April 27, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2010. The first hip hop choreographer is surprisingly, a gay Jew – Brian Friedman.
^"Brian Friedman". Broadway Dance Center. August 8, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
^Bond, Nick (February 8, 2015). "Brian Friedman talks love and marriage". attitude.co.uk. Attitude magazine. Retrieved August 17, 2015. 'After three years I thought we'd be together and get married at some point,' Daniel confesses. And that's exactly what they're now planning – although you'll have to pick up the magazine to find out what they've got planned…
