Matthew Diamond (born November 26, 1951) is an American film and television director, producer and choreographer best known for directing '' Dancemaker''.

Life and career

Matthew Diamond was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of Irwin and Pearl (née Ziffer) Diamond. He graduated from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

with a B.A. in 1972 and attended the

School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a Public school (government funded), public Alternative school, alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New Y ...

in New York City. He began his career as a dancer with the

Louis Falco Louis Falco (August 2, 1942 – March 26, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Life and career Louis Falco was born in New York City of southern Italian immigrant parents. He began his study of dance in the 1950s at The Henry Street ...

Dance Company from 1970–74, Jennifer Muller and the Works from 1975–76 and the Batsheva Dance Company, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1978. He was choreographer for the Bat–Dor Dance Company, and co-founded the dance company Diamond where he served as cofounder (with Maria Loffredo), artistic director, and choreographer from 1979–83. He also served as opera director for Children's Free Opera in 1983. He also choreographed for dance companies including

The Washington Ballet The Washington Ballet (TWB) is an ensemble of professional ballet dancers based in Washington DC. It was founded in 1976 by Mary Day, and has been under the artistic directorship of Julie Kent since 2016. Septime Webre was artistic director fo ...

, Batsheva Dance Company and Bat-Dor Dance Company of Israel. Diamond's choreography has been presented at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Jacob’s Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for a Summer dance festival. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives a ...

and the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

. Choreographer

Tere O'Connor Tere O'Connor (born 1958) is an American dancer, choreographer and educator. Life and career Tere O'Connor was born in Rochester, New York, and graduated in 1979 with a B.A. from State University of New York at Purchase. He performed in the com ...

danced in his company before becoming a choreographer on his own. Diamond was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

in 1999 for directing the documentary film '' Dancemaker''. As well as being nominated for several

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s, DGA Awards, he won a prize for his work at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...

Choreography

Selected works include: *''3 of Diamond's'', 1977 *''Handful of Diamond's'', 1978 *''3 by Matthew Diamond'', 1978 Choreography for films includes: *''Phi Beta Rockers'', 1982 *''Splitz'', Film Ventures International, 1984 *''Maxie'', Orion, 1985

Directing credits

* ''

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'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * ''

Men in Trees ''Men in Trees'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series starring Anne Heche as relationship coach Marin Frist, which premiered on September 12, 2006, on ABC. The series is set in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska, and concerns M ...

'' * '' Help Me Help You'' * ''

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'' * ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American Comedy drama, comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and beca ...

'' * ''

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'' * '' Scrubs'' * '' Oh Baby'' * ''

The Parkers ''The Parkers'' is an American television sitcom aired on UPN from August 30, 1999, to May 10, 2004. A spin-off of UPN's ''Moesha'', ''The Parkers'' features the mother-daughter team of Nikki (played by Mo'Nique) and Kim Parker (played by Counte ...

'' * '' Linc's'' * ''

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'' * ''

ABC Weekend Special ''ABC Weekend Special'' is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997, which featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated. Similar to b ...

s'' * ''

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'', ''

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'' * ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...

'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * '' The Naked Truth'' * '' Sister, Sister'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * ''

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'' * '' Rude Awakening'' * ''

The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer ''The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer'' ( ) is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from October 5 to October 26, 1998. Before it was even debuted, the series set off a storm of controversy because of a perceived light-hearted take on the issue ...

'' * ''

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

'' * '' Homeboys in Outer Space'' * '' Down the Shore'' * ''

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'' * ''

Working Girl ''Working Girl'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols, written by Kevin Wade, and starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, and Melanie Griffith. Its plot follows an ambitious secretary from Staten Island who t ...

'' * ''

My Two Dads ''My Two Dads'' is an American sitcom television series that was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with Tri-Star Television (later Columbia Pictures Television) and distributed by TeleVentures. It starred Paul Reiser, Greg ...

'' * ''

My Sister Sam ''My Sister Sam'' is an American television sitcom starring Pam Dawber and Rebecca Schaeffer that aired on CBS from October 6, 1986, to April 12, 1988. Synopsis The sitcom follows the lives of a 29-year-old San Francisco freelance photographer ...

'' * ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

'' * ''

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure ''The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure'' (also referred to as ''The Oogieloves'') is a 2012 American interactive educational children's musical adventure comedy film loosely based on the children's television series '' My Bedbugs'' by Alex ...

'' * '' Lullabye'' * ''

Camp Rock ''Camp Rock'' is a 2008 American musical television film directed by Matthew Diamond from a screenplay by Karin Gist, Regina Hicks, Julie Brown, and Paul Brown. The 73rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), the film stars Demi Lovato, Joe Jo ...

References

External links

*
Interview with Matthew Diamond
from

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

' ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Matthew 1951 births American choreographers American television directors Television producers from New York City Living people People from Manhattan Film directors from New York City Primetime Emmy Award winners