Greg Daniels Biography

(Director)

Birthday: June 13, 1963 (Gemini)

Born In: New York, New York, United States

Greg Daniels is an American television writer, producer, and director, best known for working in Emmy award winning series’ such as The Office and The Simpsons. Born and raised in New York, Greg completed his high school graduation from Phillips Exeter Academy and later studied at Harvard University. Following his graduation, he began working as a television writer. His debut project was the HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News, but due to budget cuts, he was let go shortly. He was later hired to write for shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. He wrote successfully for both the shows and won one Emmy Award for each. In 2005, he successfully adapted the British comedy show The Office into an American version. The show became a cult classic and won two Emmy Awards for Greg. The show’s success also led to the creation of another successful show on the same format, Parks and Recreation. In the 2010s, Greg worked on science fiction series’ People of Earth and Upload.

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Quick Facts

Also Known As: Gregory Martin Daniels

Age: 61 Years, 61 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Susanne Daniels

father: Aaron Daniels

mother: Judy Daniels

children: Charlotte Daniels, Haley Daniels, Maya Daniels, Owen Daniels, Spencer Daniels

Born Country: United States

Directors T V & Movie Producers

Height: 6'2" (188 cm), 6'2" Males

U.S. State: New Yorkers

More Facts

education: Harvard University, St Bernard's School, Phillips Exeter Academy

  • 1

    Where did Greg Daniels attend college?

    Greg Daniels attended Harvard University.
  • 2

    What are some of the popular TV shows created by Greg Daniels?

    Some popular TV shows created by Greg Daniels include "The Office" (US version), "Parks and Recreation," and "Upload."
  • 3

    Has Greg Daniels worked on any other projects with writer Michael Schur?

    Yes, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur collaborated on creating the TV show "Parks and Recreation."
  • 4

    What is one of the key themes often explored in Greg Daniels' TV shows?

    One of the key themes often explored in Greg Daniels' TV shows is the dynamics of workplace relationships and office culture.
Childhood & Early Life

Greg Daniels was born Gregory Martin Daniels, on June 13, 1963, in New York City, to Judy and Aaron Daniels, into an upper middle class family. His father worked as the president of the ABC radio network, while his mother worked at the New York Public Library.

Greg mentioned that his primary inspiration during his growing up years was his father, who was a very funny storyteller. He also stated that while his father was not a professional athlete, he still competed in the 1968 Olympics. Greg’s father told him several funny stories while he was a kid, and some of those stories and jokes later ended up in Greg’s scripts for the television shows he wrote.

Greg also mentioned that he was a big fan of the Monty Python series and how the satirical humour became his style, inspired by that. He was also a voracious reader and read funny books, often written by the humorist S.J. Perelman.

Greg Daniels enrolled into the Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, from where he pursued his high school graduation. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled into the Harvard University, where he was batch-mates with Conan O’Brien. Both of them had wanted to become writers for television and films and together, they joined The Harvard Lampoon, a satirical humour publication published from the Harvard University.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1984 and began working as a professional writer for television.
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Career

Greg Daniels' first job upon graduating from Harvard was as a junior writer on the show titled ‘Not Necessarily the News’, a sketch comedy series which aired on HBO. Greg and Conan were both selected as the writers. However, due to some budget cuts, they had to leave the job.

In 1987 however, Greg Daniels received a big break when he was hired as a staff writer for the popular sketch comedy show titled ‘Saturday Night Live’. Conan also joined Greg on the writing team for the show. It was one of the first big breakthroughs of Greg’s career as he ended up winning an Emmy Award as a writer. He was initially hired for three weeks as a try-out, but he managed to impress everyone and became a regular writer on the show.

After working at ‘Saturday Night Live’ for close to three years, Greg left the show in 1990. In 1993, he achieved the first major milestone of his career when he was hired as a writer on the cult classic animated comedy series titled ‘The Simpsons’. He became a part of the writing staff at a time when the show’s ratings were not so great. It was assumed that the best days of the show had been behind them. Many members from the original writing team of the show had also left the show.

Greg Daniels, along with a new set of writers, ensured the show becomes relevant once again and it did. Greg wrote many hit episodes for the fifth season, such as ‘Homer and Apu’, ‘Secrets of a Successful Marriage’ and ‘Treehouse of Horror IV’. Almost all the episodes written by Greg turned out to be massively successful and helped a great deal in making Greg one of the permanent writers on the show.

In the thirteenth episode of the fifth season, titled ‘Homer and Apu’, Greg also wrote a song called ‘Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart’, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics’.

Greg Daniels continued his association with ‘The Simpsons’ on the show’s sixth season as well and wrote some critically and commercially acclaimed episodes such as ‘Lisa’s Wedding’ and ‘Homer Badman’. He wrote some episode in the seventh season as well, such as ’22 Short Films About Springfield’, which was the last episode that he wrote for the show.

He was then hired as a co-writer for the sitcom titled ‘King of the Hill’ in 1997, along with Mike Judge. When he read the pilot script of the sitcom, he made some major changes to it, while also adding a few more characters. ‘King of the Hill’ was an instant success and very soon, it received a worldwide syndication and its reruns were later aired on Adult Swim and Comedy Central.

The show ran for thirteen highly successful seasons, with 259 episodes in total. It was one Fox’s longest running series and won several awards and accolades. The show was nominated for many Annie Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards and ended up receiving a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999.

While Greg had initially joined the show as a co-writer, he was eventually credited as co-creator of the show, owing to his immense contribution in the overall development of the show.
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Greg had been a huge fan of the British comedy mockumentary series titled ‘The Office’ and in 2005, the American version of the series premiered, with Greg as the developer and the main writer of the show. The show initially received mixed ratings, owing to a difference in the American and British people’s sensibilities regarding humour.

The first season adapted the British version almost episode to episode, which was a little pessimistic in approach. Understanding this, Greg wrote the second season with a far more optimist feel.

The second season onwards, the show became a major hit among the critics and the masses. At the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards, the series won the Outstanding Comedy Series Award. The success of the show somehow compelled the producers to come up with a spin-off series, but Greg said that it was not the right way to go about it. He developed another show instead, based around the same format of a mockumentary with hand held documentary style look.

The show thus created was titled ‘Parks and Recreation’, which was yet another success. At one point, Greg shuffled work between ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’, but for the final season of ‘The Office’, he concentrated on it. ‘The Office’ had to shut down after nine seasons owing to a constant dip in the ratings after the lead character Michael Scott played by Steve Carell left the show after the seventh season.

In 2011, Greg Daniels signed a deal with NBC television to produce multiple series’ for Universal Television. He later adapted the British series ‘Friday Night Dinner’ for the American audiences.

In the more recent years, he has served as a director and the executive producer on the space comedy series titled ‘People of Earth’. Additionally, he has also been working on a series titled ‘Space Force’, starring Steve Carell as the main lead.
In May 2020, Amazon Prime series ‘Upload’ released to positive response from audience and critics. Greg served as the creator of the series.
Personal Life
Greg Daniels met Susanne Dari Lieberstein, while he was working as staff writer at ‘Saturday Night Live’, where Susanne was working as a telephone operator at that time. They got married soon after and became parents to four children.
Susanne currently works as an entertainment executive, producer and an author.
Facts About Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels is known for his quirky sense of humor and often incorporates subtle jokes and references into his work that keep fans entertained.
He has a background in improv comedy and has a talent for creating memorable and unique characters that resonate with audiences.
Greg Daniels is a fan of playing practical jokes on set and has been known to keep the cast and crew laughing with his playful antics.
He is a dedicated writer and producer who is passionate about storytelling and creating engaging narratives that captivate viewers.
Greg Daniels is also a music enthusiast and enjoys incorporating music into his projects to enhance the emotional impact of key scenes.

Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards
2007 Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series The Office (2005)
2006 Outstanding Comedy Series The Office (2005)
1999 Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) King of the Hill (1997)
1995 Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) The Simpsons (1989)
1989 Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live (1975)

See the events in life of Greg Daniels in Chronological Order

How To Cite

Article Title
- Greg Daniels Biography
Author
- Editors, TheFamousPeople.com
Website
- TheFamousPeople.com
URL
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/greg-daniels-12756.php

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