Ozzie Alfonso (born August 14, 1945) was the director and one of three Senior Producers of ''

3-2-1 Contact ''3-2-1 Contact'' is an American science educational television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988 and later ran on Noggin (a joint venture between the CTW ...

'' from season 2 to 8 when the series stopped production. He was also one of the writers for the series from season 3 through 8. Following production of the daily series, Alfonso was the director of all the ''3-2-1 Contact Specials'', and ''3-2-1 Classroom''. His work at ''3-2-1 Contact'' garnered two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

– for

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

(contributing cinematographer), and for outstanding directing. Prior to joining ''

'', Alfonso was a contributing director for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' where he started in the series second season as

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

supervisor and

video editor A video editor is involved in video production and the post-production of film making. The video editor's responsibilities involve decisions about the selection and combining of shots into sequences, as well as the addition of accompanying sou ...

. He was nominated for a nighttime Emmy for his directing in "

Sesame Street in Puerto Rico Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

". He left Sesame Street in 1979 and returned to the

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

(now known as

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

) to work in 3-2-1 Contact. After leaving Sesame Workshop, Alfonso freelanced as director and writer of numerous specials for PBS, Nickelodeon, and NBC. From 1991 until 2008, Alfonso headed his own video production and consulting company, Terra Associates, now "Ozzie Alfonso Media" and from 2005 to 2019 he was an adjunct professor at

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

in Queens, New York where he taught courses on media, television production, and writing. He is still an active director/writer working on selected projects.

Personal life

Born in Cuba, he came to the US at age 10 when political turmoil in his homeland forced his parents to leave the country. Ozzie followed a few years later accompanied by his grandmother. He lives in New York with his wife, teacher and children book author, Maura Gouck, and son, David.

References

External links

* * Living people American television directors American television producers American television writers Television video editors Faculty American male television writers 1945 births {{US-tv-producer-stub WFUV people

Personal life

See also

References

External links