James Burrows is one of television’s most respected and honored creative talents. Over his distinguished career, Burrows has been the recipient of ten Emmys, five Directors Guild of America Awards, the 1996 American Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award, and in 2014 the Television Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award in 2006 he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Science’s Hall of Fame and was honored by the US Comedy Arts Festival with their Career Tribute award. He has been the recipient of 22 nominations for the Director’s Guild of America Award, thus bestowing him the honor of being the most nominated director in the history of television at the Guild. He was recently honored by the DGA with the Inaugural 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award in Television. In November of

2015 he directed his 1000th episode which was recognized by a TV Special on NBC in January of 2016. In June of this year, he was honored with the “Achievement in Television eXcellence Award at the ATX TV Festival.

Burrows’ success as the director of television pilots is legendary. He began the 2023 TV season at the helm of the new CBS re-boot series of, “Frasier.”  The current primetime television schedule features one show “Neighborhood,”- whose pilot episode Burrows directed. In January of 2020, he received his fifth DGA Award for directing the Emmy award winning show “Live in Front of a Studio Audience #1: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons.” He was also asked back to direct “Live in Front of a Studio Audience #3: Different Strokes and The Facts of Life” in December of 2021. In June of 2022, he embarked into a new market when he published his autobiography, “Directed by James Burrows.” It has received quite a bit of attention and praise from the industry.

Burrows is probably best known as co-creator, executive producer, and director of the critically acclaimed series, “Cheers.” The hit show, which aired for 11 seasons, is tied for the most nominated Comedy series in the Television Academy’s history and is in third place for most Emmys received by a Comedy Series.  Burrows has also received numerous awards for his work on “Will & Grace,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “Wings,” “Night Court,” “Taxi,” and “Dear John.” For the first time in 25 years, he returned to the stage in the spring of 1998 to direct the highly acclaimed “Man Who Came to Dinner” at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, starring John Mahoney.

Burrows learned his trade from the very best, the legendary writer/director Abe Burrows, whose noted career included such classics as “Guys and Dolls,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Cactus Flower.”

Born in Los Angeles and raised in New York, Burrows graduated from Oberlin College and continued his education at Yale, where he earned a master’s degree in fine arts. Burrows relocated to Hollywood to work as a dialogue coach for “O.K. Crackerby!,” a short-lived television series starring Burl Ives. When the show ended, he returned to New York and initially worked as a stage manager before directing several off-Broadway shows, such as “The Castro Complex,” and stock productions of “The Odd Couple” and “Never Too Late.”

In 1974, Burrows moved back to the West Coast when he was invited to visit MTM Productions in Los Angeles and offered a job directing an episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Mr. Burrows and his wife, Debbie, reside in Los Angeles and between them they have a quartet of daughters.