Ken Burns
Directing
Born: July 29, 1953 (age 73) · Brooklyn, New York, USA
Highest Rated
Biography
Ken Burns (born 1953) is a highly celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, periodicals and ordinary people's correspondence, the latter often movingly read by seasoned professional actors in a deliberate attempt to get away from a "Great Man" approach to history. Like most non-fiction filmmakers, Burns wears many hats on his projects, often serving as writer, cinematographer, editor and music director in addition to producing and directing. He achieved his apotheosis with The Civil War (1990), a phenomenally popular 11-hour documentary that won two Emmys and broke all previous ratings records for public TV. The series' companion coffee table book--priced at a hefty $50--sold more than 700,000 copies. The audio version, narrated by Burns, was also a major best-seller. In the final accounting, "The Civil War" became the first documentary to gross over $100 million. Not surprisingly, it has become perennial fund-raising programming for public TV stations around the country. Burns arrived upon the scene with the Oscar-nominated Brooklyn Bridge (1981), a nostalgic chronicle of the construction of the fabled edifice. The film was more widely seen when rebroadcast on PBS the following year. Though Burns has made other nonfiction films for theatrical release, notably an acclaimed and ambiguous portrait of Depression-era Louisiana governor Huey Long (1985), PBS would prove to be his true home. He cast a probing eye on such American subjects as The Statue of Liberty (1985), The Congress (1988) (PBS), painter Thomas Hart Benton (1988) (PBS) and early radio with Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) (PBS). Burns returned to long-form documentary with his most ambitious project to date, an 18-hour history of Baseball (1994), which aired on PBS in the fall of 1994. He approached the national pastime as a template for understanding changes in modern American society. Ironically, this was the only baseball on the air at the time, as the players and owners were embroiled in a bitter strike.
Known for
Interstellar
2014
The Simpsons
1989
The Vietnam War
2017
The Mindy Project
2012
The Civil War
1990
The Central Park Five
2012
The War
2007
Prohibition
2011
Wordplay
2006
Difficult People
2015
Baseball
1994
The American Revolution
2025
Photos (2)
Movies (3)
TV Shows (5)
Self / Appearances (29)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self - Guest · 1 eps
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Guest · 6 eps
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self · 1 eps
The Daily Show
Self · 2 eps
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self · 1 eps
Late Show with David Letterman
Self - Guest · 1 eps
The View
Self · 1 eps
The Colbert Report
Self · 4 eps
The Colbert Report
Self (uncredited) · 1 eps
Face the Nation
Self · 1 eps
60 Minutes
Self · 1 eps
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest · 1 eps
Finding Your Roots
Self · 1 eps
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
Self · 1 eps
Today
Self · 1 eps
CNN Special Report
Self · 1 eps
Craft in America
Himself · 1 eps
The Problem with Jon Stewart
Self · 1 eps
In the Know
Self · 1 eps
Very Ralph
Self
MLB: Baseball's Seasons
Self - Filmmaker · 1 eps
Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation
Self
Back on the Record with Bob Costas
Self · 1 eps
Spirit of Golf
Self
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
Self
Wordplay
Self
Ken Burns: Here & There
Himself
The Unmaking of a College
Self
Here For A Good Time
Self
Directing (45)
The Civil War
Director
The American Revolution
Director
Baseball
Director
Country Music
Director
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Director
The Vietnam War
Director
Prohibition
Director
The War
Director
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Director
The American Buffalo
Director
Benjamin Franklin
Director
Jazz
Director
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Director
Muhammad Ali
Director
Hemingway
Director
Leonardo da Vinci
Director
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director
Henry David Thoreau
Director
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Director
Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
Director
Mark Twain
Director
Jackie Robinson
Director
Thomas Jefferson
Director
Mark Twain
Director
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Director
The Central Park Five
Director
The Dust Bowl
Director
The Mayo Clinic
Director
The Statue of Liberty
Director
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Director
Frank Lloyd Wright
Director
Brooklyn Bridge
Director
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
Director
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Director
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
Director
Huey Long
Director
The Congress
Director
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Director
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Director
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director
De la poussière et des hommes
Director
Thomas Hart Benton
Director
The Address
Director
After the Central Park Five
Director
Seeing, Searching, Being: William Segal
Director
Writing (10)
The Civil War
Writer
Baseball
Writer
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Writer
Muhammad Ali
Writer
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Writer
Henry David Thoreau
Writer
The Central Park Five
Writer
The Mayo Clinic
Writer
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Writer
After the Central Park Five
Writer
Producing (49)
The Civil War
Executive Producer
The American Revolution
Producer
Baseball
Producer
Baseball
Executive Producer
Country Music
Executive Producer
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Producer
The Vietnam War
Producer
The Vietnam War
Executive Producer
Prohibition
Executive Producer
Prohibition
Producer
The War
Executive Producer
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Producer
The American Buffalo
Producer
The American Buffalo
Executive Producer
Benjamin Franklin
Producer
Jazz
Producer
Muhammad Ali
Executive Producer
The West
Executive Producer
Hemingway
Producer
Leonardo da Vinci
Executive Producer
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Producer
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Executive Producer
Henry David Thoreau
Producer
Henry David Thoreau
Producer
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Producer
Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
Producer
Mark Twain
Producer
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Producer
The Central Park Five
Producer
The Dust Bowl
Producer
The Mayo Clinic
Executive Producer
The Gene: An Intimate History
Producer
The Statue of Liberty
Producer
Frank Lloyd Wright
Producer
College Behind Bars
Executive Producer
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies
Producer
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Producer
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Executive Producer
Walden
Executive Producer
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
Executive Producer
Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
Executive Producer
Huey Long
Producer
Homecoming
Executive Producer
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Executive Producer
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Producer
Thomas Hart Benton
Producer
East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
Producer
East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
Executive Producer
Lindbergh
Producer
Other Crew (20)
Interstellar
Thanks
The Civil War
Director of Photography
The American Revolution
Creator
Baseball
Director of Photography
Prohibition
Creator
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Creator
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Creator
Leonardo da Vinci
Creator
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director of Photography
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Creator
Henry David Thoreau
Creator
Thomas Jefferson
Creator
Mark Twain
Director of Photography
The Statue of Liberty
Cinematography
Brooklyn Bridge
Director of Photography
Brooklyn Bridge
Cinematography
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Music Director
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Director of Photography
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Cinematography
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Cinematography