Ezra Edelman

Ezra Benjamin Edelman (born August 6, 1974) is an American documentary producer and director. He won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming for directing O.J.: Made in America (2016).

Ezra Edelman
Edelman at the 70th Annual Peabody Awards, 2011
Born
Ezra Benjamin Edelman

(1974-08-06) August 6, 1974
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materYale University (BA)
OccupationTelevision director, television producer
Parents
Relatives2, including Jonah

Early life and education

Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Marian Wright Edelman, former civil rights leader and aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, and Peter Edelman, former aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation, and professor at Georgetown University Law Center.[1] His father is Jewish.[2] He has two brothers, Joshua, an educational administrator, and Jonah, co-founder and CEO of Stand for Children. His parents were the first interracial marriage in Virginia after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the state’s miscegenation law in Loving v. Virginia. His paternal great-grandfather was a Polish rabbi who was killed during the Holocaust and his maternal grandfather was a Baptist minister; he was raised in both faiths.[3][4]

Edelman graduated from Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. in July 1992,[5] before going on to earn his bachelor's degree from Yale University.[6]

Directing and producing

Edelman is best known for producing and directing the Academy Award-winning 2016 documentary film O.J.: Made in America for ESPN's 30 for 30.[7][8][9][10][11][12][6] In his Oscar acceptance speech, Edelman dedicated the award to Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, whom O.J. Simpson had been tried and acquitted of murdering in 1995. Previously he directed three HBO Sports documentaries: Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,[7][8][12] The Curious Case of Curt Flood (2011)[7] and the Emmy Award-winning Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush.[8][6][13] He also wrote and directed a special on the former Big East Conference called Requiem for the Big East, also a part of the 30 for 30 series.[14] Edelman produced Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, an HBO documentary series that ran for two seasons.

Edelman is set to direct a Roberto Clemente biopic for Legendary Entertainment.[15]

Personal life

Edelman lives in Brooklyn, New York.

References
  1. Green, Penelope (2017-02-07). "After Two Tragedies, a Love to Bring Down Barriers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  2. Lawson, Carol (October 8, 1992). "AT HOME WITH: Marian Wright Edelman; A Sense of Place Called Family". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  3. Lawson, Carol (October 8, 1992). "AT HOME WITH: Marian Wright Edelman; A Sense of Place Called Family". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  4. Weiss Shulkin, Mark (2011). 100 Years In America: A History of a Jewish family a century after Immigration. iUniverse. p. 2. ISBN 9781462010431. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. Malloy, Courtland (July 26, 1992). "Two Worlds Under a Cap and Gown". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  6. Insheiwat, Shelly (1 June 2016). "Filmmaker Ezra Edelman: ESPN Documentary 'O.J. Made in America'". Foxla.com. Los Angeles, CA: Foxla.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. Busch, Anita (9 May 2016). "'O.J.: Made In America' Filmmaker Ezra Edelman Lands At CAA". Deadline Hollywood. Deadline.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  8. Khal (9 June 2016). "Ezra Edelman Made 'O.J.: Made in America' So White People Realize: "Black People Have Gone Through a Lot of Sh*t"". Complex. New York, NY: Complex. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  9. A.O. Scott, "Review: ‘O.J.: Made in America,’ an Unflinching Take on His Rise and Fall," The New York Times, May 19, 2016.
  10. National Public Radio (14 June 2016). "New 5-Part Series Considers The 'Perfect Perversity' Of The O.J. Simpson Case". Fresh Air. National Public Radio. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  11. Miller, James Andrew (10 June 2016). "Why ESPN Gave Director Ezra Edelman Nearly Eight Hours for 'O.J.: Made in America'". Vanity Fair. New York, NY: Condé Nast. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. Marcus, Stephanie; Strachan, Maxwell (April 27, 2016). "Everyone Is About To Know Ezra Edelman's Name". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  13. Gough, Paul J. (29 April 2008). "HBO Tops Sports Emmys". Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles, CA: Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  14. Steinberg, Dan (March 12, 2014). "Ezra Edelman and ESPN's 'Requiem for the Big East'". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  15. McClintock, Pamela (February 5, 2018). "Ezra Edelman to Direct Roberto Clemente Baseball Biopic for Legendary". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
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