Emmy® and Oscar® nominee JOSS WHEDON is one of Hollywood's top creators, scripting several hit films and creating one of television's most critically praised shows, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Born in New York June 23, 1964, Whedon is a third-generation television writer. His grandfather and father were both successful sitcom writers on shows such as "The Donna Reed Show," "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Golden Girls."
After receiving a degree in film studies from Wesleyan University, Whedon landed his first writing job on the staff of the top-rated series "Roseanne." He later pulled double duty on the series "Parenthood," co-producing and writing a number of episodes.
After creating "Buffy" as a feature film script, Whedon brought it to television in 1996, where it became a cult phenomenon. In 2000, Whedon garnered his first Emmy® nomination in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for his groundbreaking episode entitled "Hush." In 2002, he wrote, composed and directed a Broadway-style musical episode entitled "Once More, With Feeling" which received worldwide recognition and spawned an Original Cast Recording soundtrack, which sold more than 400,000 CDs worldwide.
In a New York Times Magazine profile, "Buffy" was called "one of the most intelligent, and most underestimated, shows on television." The show won several awards over its run including, Emmys®, Saturns, SFXs and a Hugo in its seventh and final season.
In 1998, Whedon developed and produced "Angel". The "Buffy" spin-off gained a loyal following of its own and ran for five seasons. In 2002, he followed up with the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama "Firefly". In addition to serving as creator and executive producer on "Angel," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Firefly," Whedon also wrote and directed multiple episodes of each series. He earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay with Disney's box-office smash "Toy Story." His other feature writing credits include "Titan A.E.," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Speed," and "Alien Resurrection."
In fall 2005, Whedon made his feature directorial debut with "Serenity," based on the "Firefly" series. Whedon's musical internet series titled "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" made its debut online in 2008 and became a smash success, winning numerous awards such as an Emmy® win for "Outstanding Special Class Short-Format – Live Action Entertainment Program." Joss finished his second season, working as the creator, writer, and director of his Fox television series "Dollhouse." Following "Dollhouse," Whedon teamed up with fellow "Dr. Horrible," Neil Patrick Harris, to direct an episode of Fox's critically acclaimed series, "Glee."
In the fall of 2011 Whedon and his wife Kai Cole announced the formation of their micro-budget studio, Bellwether Pictures along with the completion of principal photography on the modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." The studio's next project was an original script penned by Whedon entitled "In Your Eyes."
Whedon also wrote and directed "The Avengers," Marvel's signature superhero ensemble. In addition to his television and feature writing, Whedon created "Fray" for Dark Horse comics, wrote "Astonishing X-Men," "Runaways" for Marvel and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" seasons 8 and 9 for Dark Horse Comics.
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