Ellie Kanner, sometimes credited as Ellie Kanner-Zuckerman, is an American film and television director and former casting director.
Career
Kanner grew up in
Bloomfield,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
. From a young age, she wanted to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career in entertainment.
She is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
She attended
Southern Connecticut State University
Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is ...
before transferring to
Pasadena City College. She dropped out of school and was hired as an agent by Irvin Arthur Associates, a talent agency that represented
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...
,
Marsha Warfield
Marsha Francine Warfield (born March 5, 1954) is an American actress and comedian. She grew up on Chicago's South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She is best known for her 1986–92 role of Roz Russell on the Top 10 rated NBC sitcom ...
,
Shelley Berman and
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comed ...
.
She soon left the company to become a casting director and cast the pilot episodes of ''
The Drew Carey Show
''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995 to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalize ...
'', ''
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...
'', ''
Two Guys and a Girl
''Two Guys and a Girl'' (titled ''Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place'' for the first two seasons) is an American television sitcom created by Rick Wiener, Kenny Schwartz and Danny Jacobson. The series started as a short-run (13 episodes) mid-se ...
'', ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...
'' and ''
Friends''. She won a
Casting Society of America award for her work on ''Friends''.
Kanner's other television casting credits include ''
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', ''
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century'', ''
Clueless
''Clueless'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It stars Alicia Silverstone with supporting roles by Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy and Paul Rudd. It was produced by Scott Rudin and Robert ...
'', ''
Time Trax
''Time Trax'' is a science fiction television series that first aired in 1993. A police officer, sent two centuries into the past to a parallel Universe, must apprehend and return convicted criminals who have escaped prison in the future. This ...
'', ''
Special Unit 2
''Special Unit 2'' is an American sci-fi/comedy television series that aired on UPN for two seasons from April 11, 2001 through February 13, 2002. The series focused upon the exploits of a top-secret Chicago police division known as Special Unit ...
'' and ''
The Dead Zone''. She also cast the films ''
High Strung'' (1991), ''
Sleep with Me
''Sleep with Me'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Rory Kelly and starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz and Craig Sheffer, who play good friends that become involved in a love triangle, a relationship complicated by the marriage of Tilly ...
'' (1994), ''
Kicking and Screaming'' (1995), ''
MVP: Most Valuable Primate'' (2000) and ''
Air Bud: World Pup''.
In 2001 Kanner directed her first film, entitled ''Rachel's Room''. It featured
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig (born ) is an American actress and model. She is known for playing Shannon Rutherford on the ABC television series ''Lost'' (2004–2006; 2010), Kim Mills in the '' Taken'' trilogy (2008–2014), Irina in ''The Twilight Sa ...
's first major role and
Liz Tigelaar
Rachel Elizabeth Tigelaar (born October 4, 1975) is an American television writer, producer, and author.
She has worked on the series '' Brothers & Sisters'', ''American Dreams'', ''Once and Again'', '' Once Upon a Time'', ''Revenge'', '' Bate ...
's first screenplay credit. Her next film, ''Italian Ties'' (2001), starred
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio (; born September 22, 1960) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chachi Arcola on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1977–1984) and its spin-off '' Joanie Loves Chachi'' (1982–1983), the title character on ...
and
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
. Other film directing credits include ''Crazylove'' (2005) starring
Reiko Aylesworth
Reiko M. Aylesworth (born December 9, 1972) is an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role on the television series '' 24'' as Michelle Dessler.
Early life, career start
Aylesworth was born December 9, 1972, in Evans ...
and
Bruno Campos
Bruno Campos () is a Brazilian-American lawyer and former actor, best known for his roles of Dr. Quentin Costa on the award-winning television show ''Nip/Tuck'', the voice of Prince Naveen in the animated film ''The Princess and the Frog'', an ...
, ''
Wake'' (2009) starring
Bijou Phillips
Bijou Lilly Phillips Masterson (born April 1, 1980) is an American actress, model and singer. The daughter of musician John Phillips and Geneviève Waïte, she began her career as a model. Phillips made her singing debut with '' I'd Rather Ea ...
and
Ian Somerhalder, ''
For the Love of Money
"For the Love of Money" is a soul/funk song that was written and composed by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Anthony Jackson; it was recorded by Philadelphia soul group The O'Jays for the album ''Ship Ahoy.'' Produced by Gamble and Huff for Phi ...
'' (2012) with
Edward Furlong
Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...
and
James Caan
James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Suppo ...
, and ''
Authors Anonymous'' (2014) starring
Kaley Cuoco
Kaley Christine Cuoco ( ; born November 30, 1985) is an American actress. After a series of supporting film and television roles in the late 1990s, she landed her breakthrough role as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom ''8 Simple Rules'' (200 ...
,
Dylan Walsh
Dylan Walsh (born Charles Hunter Walsh; November 17, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. Sean McNamara in the FX television series ''Nip/Tuck'', Al Burns in ''Unforgettable'' and Sam Lane in ''Superman & Lois''.
E ...
,
Chris Klein, and
Dennis Farina
Donaldo Gugliermo "Dennis" Farina (February 29, 1944 – July 22, 2013) was an American actor. Often typecast as a mobster or police officer, he is known for roles such as FBI Agent Jack Crawford in '' Manhunter'', mobster Jimmy Serrano in th ...
.
She has directed television episodes of ''
The Division
''The Division'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Deborah Joy LeVine starring Bonnie Bedelia. The series focuses on a team of female detectives and police officers in the San Francisco Police Department. The s ...
'', ''
The Dead Zone'', ''
Boston Legal'', ''
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
'' and ''
Wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
''.
Personal life
Kanner was married to television producer and writer
David Zuckerman and is currently a single mom to their two teenaged sons, Zachary and Adam.
She belongs to the
Kehillat Israel
Kehillat Israel is a Reconstructionist congregation in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. They are one of two Reconstructionist synagogues in greater Los Angeles (the other being the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue). Their senior rabbi is Amy Bern ...
Reconstructionist Congregation of Pacific Palisades.
Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation of Pacific Palisades Bulletin
MAY-AUGUST 2012 , Iyar/AV 5772 - Volume 61 , Issue 9
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanner, Ellie
American television directors
American casting directors
Women casting directors
American women film directors
American Reconstructionist Jews
American women television directors
Living people
People from Bloomfield, Connecticut
Southern Connecticut State University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Film directors from Connecticut
21st-century American women