- Known For
- Directing
- Born
- July 29, 1953
- Place of Birth
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
Ken Burns
Ken Burns (born 1953) is a highly celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, periodicals and ordinary people's correspondence, the latter often movingly read by seasoned professional actors in a deliberate attempt to get away from a "Great Man" approach to history. Like most non-fiction filmmakers, Burns wears many hats on his projects, often serving as writer, cinematographer, editor and music director in addition to producing and directing. He achieved his apotheosis with The Civil War (1990), a phenomenally popular 11-hour documentary that won two Emmys and broke all previous ratings records for public TV. The series' companion coffee table …
Filmography
movieHenry David Thoreau
2026 · Producer
tvHenry David Thoreau
2026 · Director, Writer, Producer, Creator
tvThe American Revolution
2025 · Producer, Director, Creator
tvLeonardo da Vinci
2024 · Director, Executive Producer, Creator
movieKen Burns: One Nation, Many Stories
2024
tvIn the Know
2024 · Self
movieHomecoming
2023 · Executive Producer
tvThe American Buffalo
2023 · Director, Producer, Executive Producer
movieSpirit of Golf
2023 · Self
tvThe U.S. and the Holocaust
2022 · Producer, Director, Creator
tvHiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
2022 · Executive Producer
tvBenjamin Franklin
2022 · Director, Producer
movieThe Unmaking of a College
2022 · Self
tvThe Problem with Jon Stewart
2021 · Self
tvMuhammad Ali
2021 · Director, Writer, Executive Producer
tvBack on the Record with Bob Costas
2021 · Self
tvDe la poussière et des hommes
2021 · Director
tvHemingway
2021 · Director, Producer
movieKen Burns: Here & There
2020 · Himself
movieHere For A Good Time
2020 · Self
tvThe Gene: An Intimate History
2020 · Producer
movieEast Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
2020 · Producer, Executive Producer
tvCollege Behind Bars
2019 · Executive Producer
movieVery Ralph
2019 · Self
tvCountry Music
2019 · Executive Producer, Director
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
movieHenry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
2019 · Self - Director and Producer
movieThe Mayo Clinic
2018 · Director, Writer, Executive Producer
tvFiring Line with Margaret Hoover
2018 · , Self
movieWalden
2017 · Executive Producer
tvThe Vietnam War
2017 · Producer, Executive Producer, Director
movieDefying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
2016 · Director, Executive Producer
tvJackie Robinson
2016 · Director
tvThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015 · Self - Guest
tvDifficult People
2015 · Ken Burns
tvCancer: The Emperor of All Maladies
2015 · Producer
movieInterstellar
2014 · Thanks
OETA's On the Record: Ken Burns
movieOETA's On the Record: Ken Burns
2014 · Self
tvThe Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014 · Director, Writer, Creator
movieThe Address
2014 · Director
tvThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014 · Self - Guest
movieYosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
2013 · Narrator (Voice), Director, Executive Producer, Cinematography
movieAfter the Central Park Five
2013 · Director, Writer
tvThe Dust Bowl
2012 · Director, Producer
moviePlimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
2012 · Himself
tvThe Mindy Project
2012 · Ken Burns
movieThe Central Park Five
2012 · Director, Writer, Producer
tvFinding Your Roots
2012 · Self
tvProhibition
2011 · Executive Producer, Director, Creator
movieBaseball: The Tenth Inning
2010 · Writer, Director
tvBaseball: The Tenth Inning
2010 · Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography, Executive Producer, Creator
movieSeeing, Searching, Being: William Segal
2010 · Director
movieA Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939
2010
tvThe National Parks: America's Best Idea
2009 · Producer, Director
tvMLB: Baseball's Seasons
2009 · Self - Filmmaker
tvThe War
2007 · Executive Producer, Director
tvCraft in America
2007 · Himself
movieWordplay
2006 · Self
tvThe Colbert Report
2005 · Self, Self (uncredited)
The Tim McCarver Show
tvThe Tim McCarver Show
2005
tvUnforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2005 · Director, Producer
The Tony Danza Show
tvThe Tony Danza Show
2004 · Self
movieUnforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2004 · Director
movieHoratio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
2003 · Director
movieMark Twain
2002 · Director, Producer, Director of Photography
tvMark Twain
2002 · Director
tvJazz
2001 · Producer, Director
movieChuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation
2000 · Self
tvNot for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
1999 · Producer, Director
tvFrank Lloyd Wright
1998 · Director, Producer
tvLewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
1997 · Director, Producer
tvThe View
1997 · Self
tvThomas Jefferson
1997 · Director, Creator
tvThe West
1996 · Executive Producer
tvThe Daily Show
1996 · Self
tvBaseball
1994 · Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Writer, Director of Photography
tvLate Night with Conan O'Brien
1993 · Self - Guest
tvLate Show with David Letterman
1993 · Self - Guest
movieEmpire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
1991 · Producer, Director, Executive Producer, Music Director, Director of Photography
movieLindbergh
1990 · Producer
tvThe Civil War
1990 · Writer, Director, Executive Producer, Director of Photography
tvThe Simpsons
1989 · Ken Burns (voice)
movieThomas Hart Benton
1989 · Director, Producer
movieThe Congress
1989 · Director
movieThe Statue of Liberty
1985 · Director, Cinematography, Producer
movieHuey Long
1985 · Director, Producer
movieThe Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
1984 · Director, Producer, Cinematography
tvThis Week
1981
movieBrooklyn Bridge
1981 · Director, Director of Photography, Cinematography
tvCNN Special Report
1980 · Self
tv60 Minutes
1968 · Self
tvThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
tvToday
1952 · Self