Ernie Manouse (born September 1, 1969, in
Binghamton, New York) is an American
television host
A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...
,
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
personality,
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by
HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous
KATIE awards and regional
Emmy Awards.
Early life
Manouse was born Ernest David Manouse in Binghamton, New York. He is of
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 ...
descent. After graduating from high school, and despite being accepted to
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
with a perfect math SAT score, he attended
Loyola University Chicago and studied to be a music video director. While in college, he guest-hosted Outlook, a Chicago-based radio show, with a classmate. Their radio presentation received such a positive reaction that Outlook hired them permanently.
Career
Manouse began his career in television with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
Network News, then moved into radio with WLS and WLUW in Chicago, and then moved back to TV at
HoustonPBS. Ernie has since worked his way through many aspects of talk shows, from screening calls on the call-in radio shows ''Sex Talk'' and ''The Phyllis Levy Show'' to hosting his own brand of chat and magazine programs.
He can also be seen on PBS Stations across the country hosting numerous pledge and entertainment specials, including three of public television's most successful pledge events with financial guru
Suze Orman
Susan Lynn "Suze" Orman ( ; born June 5, 1951) is an American financial advisor, author, and podcast host. In 1987, she founded the Suze Orman Financial Group. Her work as a financial advisor gained notability with ''The Suze Orman Show'', which ...
.
In 1996, Ernie moved to
Houston, Texas, and spent six years hosting and producing the daily magazine program ''WeekNight Edition'', which evolved into ''WeekDAY'' and became Houston's most celebrated local television program, earning multiple Emmy and Houston Press Club awards. Manouse shared with Matthew Brawley the 2006 Katie Award for "Outstanding Interview/Talk Show" for the southern region.
In October 2002, Manouse helped to create and produce the local primetime magazine show The Connection, which he hosted for two years.
In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse. This award-winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...
.
The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of F ...
and
Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ''Ray'', for which he won the A ...
. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion.
Another area of broadcasting that Manouse has explored is late night talk, and on February 9, 2005, Manouse launched The After Party, combining arts coverage and light-hearted interviews reminiscent of
Johnny Carson and
Jack Paar. The show received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, garnering the coveted Emmy nomination for "Best Entertainment/Variety program" in its first season. The program ended its run on November 15, 2006, after over 50 episodes.
In 2006, Manouse produced and anchored A Conversation on RACE for HoustonPBS. He also produced the political Red, White & Blue and moderated the 2002 Houston Mayoral Debates, the 2008
Texas Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of ...
Judicial Debate, and the 2008 Texas US Senate Debate. In 2009, Manouse became the anchor and producer of Houston 8, a weekly current events discussion series. He also hosted the 2009 HoustonPBS Spelling Bee, the largest regional qualifying spelling bee for the national
Scripps Spelling Bee.
After seven nominations for the Lone Star (Texas) regional chapter of the Emmy Awards, Manouse won three Emmys in 2009. He won for Best Information Series and Best On-Air Talent. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Houston Spelling Bee in the category of Best Event Coverage.
He has won an additional two awards over the last few years, bringing his Emmy total to five.
Manouse is also a
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
. He has done the English voiceovers for over a dozen
Japanese
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
videos produced by
ADV Films, including ''Gilgamesh'', ''Le Chevalier D'Eon'', and
Cromartie High School
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Nonaka and published in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from August 2000 to May 2006. It follows the everyday life of Takashi Kamiyama and his odd classmates at Cromartie Hig ...
.
Community involvement
Manouse is an active member of the Houston
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
community. Manouse has hosted community events such as the U.S. Military Ball and the Cattle Baron's Ball and served as a conversationalist at the University of Houston Honors College Great Conversation. He serves on the advisory board of both Stages Repertory Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the Greater Houston United Services Organization (USO).
He was also vice president of the
Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
QFest, formerly known as the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (HGLFF), is a nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting the media arts as a tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presentin ...
.
References
External links
USO Houston
InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Ernie Manouse's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manouse, Ernie
1969 births
Living people
American people of Greek descent
American television talk show hosts
LGBT producers
Loyola University Chicago alumni
Writers from Binghamton, New York
American LGBT broadcasters