Ryan Murphy is an Emmy, Golden Globe®, Tony® and Peabody® Award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director. He is responsible for some of the most culturally relevant and widely watched series on television and for some of the most successful films over the past twenty years. On television, Murphy created such classic shows as Glee, Nip/Tuck, Popular, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose, Feud, Scream Queens, as well as the Monster anthology series and 9-1-1 franchise which has regularly occupied the spot as the most popular show on broadcast television. Murphy was the recipient of the Carol Burnett Lifetime Achievement Award from the Golden Globes in recognition of his groundbreaking career in television in 2023.
Murphy’s iconic Glee ran for six seasons, starting in 2009, gaining 40 Emmy nominations and six wins throughout its run, as well as 10 Golden Globe nominations and four wins. Murphy's American Horror Story debuted in 2012 and has since had 12 seasons which have won 17 Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes. Murphy’s first installment of American Crime Story, “The People vs OJ Simpson,” was released in 2016 and earned 10 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series, and two Golden Globe wins, including Best Television Limited Series. The second installment, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” won seven Emmy Awards in 2018, including Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, for Murphy, and Outstanding Limited Series, and won two Golden Globes for Best Television Limited Series and Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series. Murphy’s FX drama, Pose, earned 20 Emmy nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Billy Porter in 2019, and six Golden Globes nominations and one win. The show also made history by featuring the largest transgender series regular cast and the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series. The third installment of American Crime Story, “Impeachment,” was released in September 2021 and received five Emmy nominations, winning one, and one Golden Globe nomination. Murphy’s first installment of the FX drama Feud, “Bette and Joan,” was released in March 2017 and won two Emmy Awards and earned four Golden Globe nominations. The following installment of FX’s Feud, “Capote vs. The Swans,” premiered January 2024, garnering ten Emmy nominations and one win, as well as one Golden Globe nomination.
Murphy also wrote and produced several series for Netflix including Halston, which was nominated for five Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe; Hollywood which was nominated for twelve Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe; The Politician, which was nominated for eight Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, including Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy; Ratched, which had 48 million viewers in its first 28 days after release and received four Emmy Awards nominations and three Golden Globe nominations; and The Watcher, starring Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale and Jennifer Coolidge. Murphy also created the wildly successful Monster franchise, starting with Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, starring Evan Peters, which was the third most successful series in the history of Netflix, with 701.37M hours viewed in its first three weeks, and was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards, winning one, and four Golden Globe nominations, winning one; and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story starring Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, which gained three Golden Globe nominations. The third installment of the Monster series starring Charlie Hunnam, Laurie Metcalf, and Tom Hollander, will focus on notorious serial killer Ed Gein. Murphy also produced several critically acclaimed documentaries including, The Andy Warhol Diaries, "Circus of Books" and "My Secret Love."
His other most recent projects include Mid-Century Modern, starring Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham; American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, starring Josh Andrés Rivera; Grotesquerie, starring Niecy Nash-Betts; and Doctor Odyssey, starring Joshua Jackson.
On stage, Murphy received a Tony Award for producing the Broadway hit "The Boys in the Band," starring Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and Matt Bomer. In 2020, he produced a film adaptation of the play for Netflix featuring the same cast.
Murphy directed the HBO movie "The Normal Heart," which received Emmy and Golden Globe awards, including the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. He also wrote and directed the Golden Globe-nominated film "Running with Scissors," starring Annette Bening and Gwyneth Paltrow, and the box office hit "Eat, Pray, Love," starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. Murphy most recently directed the feature adaptation of the Broadway hit, "The Prom," which received two Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.
In 2018, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2019, he was selected as a ‘Titan’ for Time Magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential People list.
Murphy’s upcoming projects include All’s Fair, a legal drama for Hulu starring Kim Kardashian, Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, and Naomi Watts; The Beauty, starring Evan Peters, Jeremy Pope, and Ashton Kutcher; The Shards, a series based on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, starring Kaia Gerber; American Love Story for FX, about the relationship of JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessett, featuring Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; and 9-1-1 Nashville, a spin-off of the popular 9-1-1 series, starring Chris O’Donnell and Jessica Capshaw.
Ryan Murphy was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2025.
