Murphy has received six Primetime Emmy Awards from 38 nominations, a Tony Award from two nominations, and two Grammy Award nominations. He has often been described as "the most powerful man" in modern television and signed the largest development deal in television history with Netflix.[1][2] Murphy is noted for having created a shift in inclusive storytelling that "brought marginalised characters to the masses".[3]
Early life
Murphy was born on November 9, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana,[4] where he was raised in a Catholic family.[5] His ancestry includes Irish and Danish.[6][7][8] He attended Catholic school from first through eighth grade,[5] and graduated from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. He has described his mother J. Andy Murphy as a "beauty queen who left it all to stay at home and take care of her two Wild sons". She wrote five books and worked in communications for over 20 years before retiring. His father worked in the newspaper industry as a circulation director before he retired after 30 years.[9]
After coming out as gay at age 15, Murphy saw his first therapist, who found nothing wrong with him other than being "too precocious for his own good".[5][9] During a 2012 interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Murphy claimed that he secretly dated "a lot of football players" in high school.[10] He performed with a choir as a child, which would later inform his work on Glee.[5]
Murphy attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he majored in journalism and was a member of the Singing Hoosiers vocal ensemble.[4] He interned at The Washington Post in 1986. He was placed in the fashion and style section.[11]log
Murphy started his career in television with the teen comedy series Popular, which he co-created with Gina Matthews. The series premiered on The WB on September 29, 1999,[12] and ran for two seasons, ending in 2001. During the time, his production company Ryan Murphy Productions signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television.[13] He then created the FX drama series Nip/Tuck, which premiered on July 18, 2003. In 2004, Murphy earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.[9] Murphy took the show's signature line, "Tell me what you don't like about yourself," from a plastic surgeon he met when he was a journalist researching an undercover story on plastic surgery in Beverly Hills. The series ended after six seasons in 2010.
On May 19, 2009, Murphy's musical comedy-drama series, Glee, premiered on Fox. He co-created the series with Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. In its early seasons, the show was critically lauded.[14] Murphy won his first Primetime Emmy Award for directing the pilot episode.[15] The series concluded in 2015 following its sixth season.[16] Murphy was one of four executive producers on the reality television series The Glee Project, which premiered on Oxygen on June 12, 2011.[17] The show featured a group of contestants vying for the prize of a seven-episode arc on Glee, with someone being eliminated each week, until the winner is chosen in the final episode. The show was renewed for a second season, which ended up being its last.[18] Murphy was openly critical of several prominent bands for not releasing music for use in Glee, for which he subsequently apologized.[19] In 2010, Murphy directed an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Love. The film was a box office success but a critical failure, receiving harsh reviews criticizing its pacing and lack of credibility. To date, the film has grossed $204,482,125 worldwide.[20]
Murphy and Falchuk created the anthology series American Horror Story, which premiered on FX on October 5, 2011. Most of the same cast have played different characters in different settings each subsequent season.[21][22] Murphy and Glee co-executive producer Ali Adler created the half-hour comedy The New Normal, which premiered on NBC on September 10, 2012. The series was based on Murphy's own experiences of having a child via surrogate, with the main characters, Bryan and David, named for Ryan and his husband.[23] The series was ultimately cancelled after one season.[24]
Murphy next directed the 2014 television film adaptation of Larry Kramer's Broadway play The Normal Heart.[25] Murphy then collaborated with The Normal Heart executive producer Jason Blum to produce a metasequel to the cult-classic horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown.[26] The film was the directorial debut of Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and was also released in 2014. In October 2014, FX greenlit a companion anthology series, American Crime Story, which Murphy and Falchuk executive produce. The series premiered on February 2, 2016.[27] Murphy, Falchuk and Brennan next co-created the comedy-horror series Scream Queens, which premiered on Fox on September 22, 2015.[28] The series was cancelled after two seasons.[29][30] Murphy's next project, the drama anthology series Feud, premiered on FX in 2017. The first season focused on the rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on the set of their 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.[31]
2018–present: 9-1-1, Pose and Netflix productions
In 2018, Murphy co-created the police procedural drama 9-1-1 and also served as its director, writer and executive producer.
With newcomer Steven Canals, Murphy and Falchuk launched a new series, Pose, set in the Ball community in mid-1980s New York City. Murphy had wanted to adapt and knock off Paris Is Burning as a series[32] and Canals had been writing a script while at graduate school centered on a young African American teen made homeless for being gay, who moved to New York with dreams of going to dance school and who became adopted by a House mother.[33] Joining Canals, Murphy and Falchuk in the writing room were Our Lady J and Janet Mock, who Murphy also encouraged to direct an episode,[32] making her the first trans woman of colour to do so, as well as the first trans woman of colour in a TV series writing room.[32] The series premiered on FX on June 3, 2018, attracting critical acclaim.[34][35] The first season boasted the largest cast of transgender actors ever for a scripted network series, with over 50 transgender characters all played by trans actors.[36][37] On July 12, 2018, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, which premiered in 2019.[38]
In May 2018, ahead of the Pose premiere, Murphy announced that he would donate all of his profits from the series to charitable organizations working with LGBT people, tweeting different non-profits including Sylvia Rivera Law Project,[39]Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund,[40] and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center[41] telling Variety that: "The thing that struck me in talking to so many of them, was how much they've struggled, how under attack they feel, how many of them find it difficult getting healthcare, and finding jobs. I just decided I need to do more than just making a show for this community. I want to reach out and help this community."[42]
In 2018, Netflix signed Murphy for a development deal with compensation of $300 million over a period of five years.[43][44] In September 2019, The Politician was released on Netflix to generally positive reviews. The series was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and renewed for a second season, which was released in mid-2020. Murphy then co-created the 9-1-1 spin-off series 9-1-1: Lone Star, which premiered on Fox in January 2020. In May 2020, Murphy's period miniseries Hollywood was released to mixed reviews. Murphy served as co-creator, writer and director for the series. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named him among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".[45][46] In 2021, Murphy wrote for and executive produced Halston, a miniseries about the designer Halston starring Ewan McGregor.
Ryan Murphy has recently faced significant criticism for producing shows that have been described as insensitive, with concerns raised about his approach to safeguarding the well-being of those involved. Reports suggest he has not prioritized seeking consent or considering the perspectives of those affected by the filming process. In the case of Netflix's Monsters series, Erik and Lyle Menendez are portrayed in ways that are factually inaccurate. Murphy had the opportunity to reach out for their input but chose not to do so.[50]
Murphy also faced backlash over his depiction of Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix's Dahmer series, which received criticism for exploiting real-life trauma without adequately consulting the families of Dahmer's victims. Relatives of the victims expressed distress, stating that they were not asked for permission and were deeply affected by the show's portrayal of their loved ones. This led to wider discussions on the ethics of dramatizing true crime stories without involving those most impacted by the events.[51]
In October 2015, Murphy received the Award of Inspiration from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research for his contributions to TV and film as well as his work in the fight against AIDS.[52]
In 2017, Murphy launched the Half Initiative, which aims to make Hollywood more inclusive by creating equal opportunities for women and minorities behind the camera. Less than one year after launching Half, Ryan Murphy Television's director slate hired 60% women directors and 90% met its women and minority requirement. In conjunction with the hiring goals, the Initiative launched the Half-Director Mentorship Program in which every director on every Ryan Murphy Television production mentors emerging women and minority directors through pre-production and post-production along with offering a significant stipend for their commitment. Filmmaker Kristin Fairweather, the first recipient of a HALF award, described her experience in an interview with Screen Comment's Rudy Cecera.[53]
Unproduced projects
Murphy has created and produced various unsuccessful television pilots. The WB's sitcom pilot St. Sass, starring Delta Burke and Heather Matarazzo, was not picked up. In 2008, Murphy wrote and directed the FX pilot Pretty/Handsome, which also was not picked up.[54] By April 2013, HBO had given a pilot order for Murphy's sexuality drama Open, which began filming in late 2013.[55] By September 2014, HBO had opted not to proceed to series.[56]
Murphy also had several films in development: Dirty Tricks, a political comedy based on the play by John Jeter,[57]One Hit Wonders, a musical comedy,[58] and a sequel to The Normal Heart.[59] He was also courted by studios to direct film versions of the Broadway musicals The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Wicked, and Annie.[60]
While Murphy grew up in a Catholic household, he is “done with the Church", having left it; however, he still occasionally goes to church.[5][63] He serves on the National Advisory Board of Young Storytellers. He once owned a house designed by renowned mid-century modern architect Carl Maston.[64]
In an interview about his show Pose, which is set in 1987, during the height of the initial AIDS crisis, Murphy described his concern about contracting HIV while at college, getting tested frequently even when celibate.[65]
Murphy has been married to photographer David Miller since July 2012.[66] They have three sons born via surrogacy.[67]
The Dorian Awards are given by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and are named in homage to The Picture of Dorian Gray author Oscar Wilde. This truncated list only includes Murphy's individual Dorian nominations and wins. Several of his productions, such as Glee and The Normal Heart, have also been honored by the group.[73][74][75][76]
Year
Category
Nominated work
Result
2013
Wilde Artist of the Year
—
Won
2015
TV Director of the Year
The Normal Heart
Nominated
2019
Wilde Artist of the Year
—
Won
2020
Wilde Artist of the Decade
—
Nominated
Emmy Awards
Murphy has won 6 Primetime Emmy Awards out of 38 nominations[77] as a producer, writer and director.
