American television show creators

American animator, producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and entrepreneur, founder of The Walt Disney Company (1901–1966)

American talk show host, actress, producer, and author (born 1954)

David Keith Lynch was an American filmmaker, producer, actor, painter, and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, with his films often characterized by a distinctive surrealist sensibility that gave rise to the adjective "Lynchian". In a career spanning more than five decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Honorary Award, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, a Palme d'Or and Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, two César Awards, and a (posthumous) Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and nine Primetime Emmy Awards.

American comedian, television host, actress, and writer (born 1958)

American marine science educator and artist (1961-2018)

American comedian (1949–2016)

American television and radio host (1933–2021)

American author, screenwriter, film director (1942–2008)

American actor and comedian

American born-British filmmaker, comedian, and actor (born 1940)

American actress (1911–1989)

American comedian and television host

Melvin James Brooks is an American actor, filmmaker, comedian, songwriter, and playwright. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 28 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2024.

American actress (1949–2024)

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series Family Guy and The Orville, and co-creator of the television series American Dad! and The Cleveland Show. He also co-wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in the films Ted, its sequel Ted 2, and A Million Ways to Die in the West.

American comedian, writer and actor (born 1947)

American television personality (1928–2003)

American cartoonist (born 1954)

American actor and filmmaker (1934–2016)

Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom The Office, and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, and director. Carell has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for The Office. He was recognized as "America's Funniest Man" by Life.

American filmmaker (1966-)

American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director

Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, and writer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows, beginning with Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993–2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009–2010) on the NBC television network, and Conan (2010–2021) on the cable channel TBS. Before his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1991, and the Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1991 to 1993. He has hosted the podcast series Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend since 2018, and starred in the 2024 travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go on HBO Max.

American writer (1917–2007)

American comedian and actor

American media mogul

American comedian, writer, producer, activist, and television host

Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the Comedy Central news satire show The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014, and the CBS talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since September 2015.

American broadcast journalist (1929–2022)

American television screenwriter and producer (1921–1991)

American actor and filmmaker (born 1966)

American actor and comedian (1952–2023)

James Christian Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is best known as the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which has aired on ABC since 2003. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards three times, in 2012, 2016 and 2020, and the Academy Awards four times, in 2017, 2018, 2023, and 2024.

American puppeteer (1936–1990)

American director, screenwriter, and producer (born 1964)

American comedian and actor (1916–1987)

American businesswoman, writer, TV personality (born 1941)

American filmmaker (born 1970)

American animator and cartoonist (1911–2006)

American actor, animator and filmmaker (born 1969)

American comedian, actor, and filmmaker (born 1967)

American animator (1910–2001)

American filmmaker (born 1961)

American comedian, actress, and writer

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of Girls and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. She started her career writing, directing, and starring in her semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She has since written and directed the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy. In 2025, she created the Netflix series Too Much starring Megan Stalter.

British-American comedian and television host

American actor, animator and filmmaker (born 1971)

American broadcast journalist (1908–1965)

American painter, art instructor, television host, and Air Force master sergeant (1942–1995)

David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor and former sketch comedian. He debuted his half-hour TV special in 1998 and his hour-long TV special in 2000. He co-created and starred in the sketch comedy series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006) on Comedy Central before quitting in the middle of production of the third season. After a hiatus, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the United States. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire magazine and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time".

American television producer, television and film writer, and author

American film director, screenwriter and producer

American director, writer, and producer (born 1940)

American actor, comedian and filmmaker

George Vincent Gilligan Jr. is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He became widely known as the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the AMC crime series Breaking Bad (2008–2013) and its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul (2015–2022). He has received numerous accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Producers Guild of America Awards, a Directors Guild of America Award, and a BAFTA Television Award.

American stand-up comedian and actor (born 1964)

American television personality and politician (1944–2023)

American television personality (born 1950)

American writer and producer (born 1970)

Ryan Patrick Murphy is an American writer, director, and producer, working mainly in television. He has often been described as "the most powerful man" in modern television and signed the largest development deal in television history with Netflix. Murphy is noted for having created a shift in inclusive storytelling that "brought marginalised characters to the masses." His accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, a Tony Award, four Producers Guild of America Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, including the honorary Carol Burnett Award.