Ken Topolsky is an American film producer, television director and music production manager.
Career
Topolsky began his career working as a music production manager for music producer
Phil Ramone
Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...
.
Together they worked with the artists
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
,
Karen Carpenter
Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside her older brother Richard. With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, she was prais ...
and
Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
.
In 1983, he served as music co-ordinator for the film ''
Flashdance
''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend ...
'' (1983) and music supervisor for the television film ''
The Last Fling'' (1987) starring
John Ritter
Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...
and
Connie Sellecca
Connie Sellecca (born Concetta Sellecchia; May 25, 1955) is an American actress, producer, and former model, best known for her roles on the television series '' Flying High'', ''The Greatest American Hero'', and ''Hotel'', for which she was nomi ...
.
Topolsky moved on to television, producing the films ''
Bates Motel'' (1987) and ''Desert Rats'' (1988). In 1989, he produced the feature film ''
The Wizard
Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to:
* Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic
* Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic
Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters
* Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...
'' starring
Fred Savage
Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...
. He would reunite with Savage becoming one of the producers of ''
The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...
'' and went to direct eleven episodes of the series. In 1990 and 1991 he shared Primetime Emmy nominations for
Outstanding Comedy Series for his work on ''The Wonder Years''.
Topolsky's other directorial television credits include ''
Party of Five
''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by Sc ...
'' and the spin-off ''
Time of Your Life''. After the latter show ended in 2000, he has focused more on
showrunning
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...
television series namely ''
MDs'', ''
Clubhouse
Clubhouse may refer to:
Locations
* The meetinghouse of:
** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
** In the United States, a country club
** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club
* A ...
'', ''
Kevin Hill
''Kevin Hill'' is an American legal drama that aired on UPN from September 29, 2004 to May 18, 2005. It was filmed and produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Synopsis
The series stars Taye Diggs as the title character, a lawyer who has to balanc ...
'', ''
3 lbs'', ''
Kidnapped
Kidnapped may refer to:
* subject to the crime of kidnapping
Literature
* ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson
* ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...
'' and ''
Scoundrels''.
, he is a producer on the relaunched ''
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
''.
Ken Topolsky is currently an Executive Producer attached to the Taylor Sheridan's series 1923
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Topolsky, Ken
Film producers from New York (state)
American music industry executives
American television directors
People from Rockland County, New York
Television producers from New York (state)
Living people
1951 births
Place of birth missing (living people)