Miranda Kwok is a Canadian-American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, actor, and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

best known as the creator, showrunner, and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of the

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drama series '' The Cleaning Lady'', which premiered on January 3, 2022. Kwok won the 2023

Gracie Awards The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary cont ...

for her work on the show, in the Writer Scripted – Drama (TV – National) category.

Studies and early work

Kwok began her studies in the arts at the age of ten when she attended the

Claude Watson School for the Arts The Claude Watson School for the Arts (CWSA) is a public arts school for grades 4-8 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History The Claude Watson School for the Arts was founded in 1981 after the North York Board of Education proposed a school with a ...

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, Canada. She majored in visual arts and minored in drama and dance. She made her television debut at the age of thirteen and has performed in several leading, supporting, and guest-starring roles in film, television, and theatre. Kwok continued her education at

Earl Haig Secondary School Earl Haig Secondary School (EHSS), formerly Earl Haig Collegiate Institute is a public high school with 2,048 students in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to being a public secondary school, the school is also host to the Claude Watson Art ...

, where she completed the Claude Watson Arts Program as well as the Academy Program for the

intellectually gifted Intellectual giftedness is an Intelligence, intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into a ...

. She also completed an

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Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in philosophy and psychology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Kwok was a participant in Project: Involve, a mentorship program at the IFP in Los Angeles. Through its directors, she was recommended for and subsequently won a full scholarship award at the

Los Angeles Film School The Los Angeles Film School (informally LA Film School) is a for-profit college in Los Angeles, California offering associate and bachelor's degrees in majors relating to the entertainment industry. The school encompasses the Los Angeles Recordin ...

in the Feature Development Program, which she completed with honors. Kwok won the grand prize in the Slamdance Screenplay Competition for a historical drama entitled ''Song of Silence''. She is an honoree of the 2021 WGA's Showrunner Training Program., the 2010 WGA Writer Access Project for professional screenwriters, and the 2009 CBS Diversity Initiative Writers Mentoring Program.

Writing career

Kwok worked as a staff writer on the first season of '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'', a 2010 original television drama on

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

. She wrote episode 105, "Shadow Games", and co-wrote episode 110, "Party Favors". In 2014,

Entertainment One Television Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

acquired format rights to the Finnish fantasy drama series ''

Nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

'', in order to develop and produce a US version, which was to be written by Kwok. In 2016, Kwok joined the writing staff of the television series ''

The 100 The 100 may refer to: Arts and entertainment * 100 (DC Comics), fictional organized crime groups appearing in DC Comics * ''The 100'' (novel series), a 2013–2016 science fiction novel series written by Kass Morgan * ''The 100'' (TV series), 20 ...

'' on the

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, where she worked as a writer and producer for four seasons, ultimately serving as supervising producer in 2020.

''The Cleaning Lady''

Kwok created the American drama television series '' The Cleaning Lady'', based on the 2017 Argentinian television show ''La Chica Que Limpia''. ''The Cleaning Lady'' premiered on

on January 3, 2022, as a midseason entry during the 2021–22 television season.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

had acquired the remake rights to the Spanish-language television series, and on October 22, 2019, it was announced that an English-language adaptation was being developed for Fox, with Kwok set to write the pilot script. Kwok was also attached to executive-produce with Melissa Carter and

Shay Mitchell Shannon Ashley Garcia "Shay" Mitchell (born April 10, 1987) is a Canadian actress and model. She rose to prominence for her role as Emily Fields in the mystery thriller drama series ''Pretty Little Liars'' (2010–2017), which earned her nomi ...

. On January 23, 2020, Fox gave the project a pilot order, the first for the network's 2020–21 television season, with

Fox Entertainment Fox Entertainment is an American production company owned by Fox Corporation. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The programming is created for the Fox Broadcasting Company, MyNetwor ...

and Warner Bros. set as co-production partners. The series was ultimately pushed back to the 2021–22 television season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, with Fox giving a series greenlight consisting of ten hour-long episodes on May 7, 2021. The show premiered on January 3, 2022. On August 25, 2022, it was announced that Kwok was promoted to showrunner on ''The Cleaning Lady''. Kwok won the 2023 Gracie Award for her work writing the show's pilot episode, in the Writer Scripted – Drama (TV – National) category. Kwok, Mitchell, and Carter were listed in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

magazine's 2022 TV Producers Impact List.

Awards

Women's Image Network Awards Women's Image Network (WIN) is a charity that produces The Women's Image Awards, "Advancing a gender-balanced world and increasing the value of women and girls by celebrating outstanding film and television." The awards show is produced during ...

– Show Producer, for '' The Cleaning Lady'' (2022) *

Gracie Award The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary cont ...

– Writer Scripted – Drama (TV – National) (2023)

Selected filmography

* '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'', "Shadow Games" – writer (2010) * ''Spartacus: Blood and Sand'', "Party Favors" – co-writer (2010) * ''

'' – executive story editor (2017) * ''The 100'', "DNR" – writer (2017) * ''The 100'', "Sic Semper Tyrannis" – writer (2018) * ''The 100'', "The Old Man and the Anomaly" – writer (2019) * ''The 100'', "The Queen's Gambit" – writer (2020) * '' The Cleaning Lady'' – creator, executive producer, writer (2022–present)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwok, Miranda American women television writers American women television producers American women writers of Chinese descent American women screenwriters Canadian women television writers Canadian women television producers Canadian women screenwriters Film producers from Ontario Canadian women film producers Canadian television actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian actresses of Chinese descent Writers from Toronto Actresses from Toronto University of Toronto alumni 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters