Shonda Rhimes Biography

Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the creator, head writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandal, all of which have aired on ABC. Rhimes has also served as the executive producer of the ABC television series Off the Map, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Catch.

In 2007, Rhimes was named one of TIME magazine's 100 People Who Help Shape the World, and in 2015, she published a memoir, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person.

Early life

Rhimes was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Vera P. (Cain), a university administrator, and Ilee Rhimes, Jr., a college professor. Her mother attended college while raising six children and earned a PhD in educational administration in 1991; her father, who holds an MBA, was the chief information officer at the University of Southern California until 2013.

Rhimes lived in Park Forest South (now University Park, Illinois), with two older brothers and three older sisters. She has said she exhibited an early affinity for storytelling and that her time spent as a hospital volunteer while in high school sparked an interest in hospital environments.

Rhimes attended Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, before enrolling at Dartmouth College, where she majored in English and film studies and earned her bachelor's degree in 1991. At Dartmouth, she joined the Black Underground Theater Association and divided her time between directing and performing in student productions, and fiction.

She wrote for the college newspaper. After college, she relocated to San Francisco with an older sibling and worked in advertising at McCann Erickson. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, to study screenwriting. While at USC she was hired by Debra Martin Chase as an intern. Rhimes credits her early success, in part, to mentors like a prominent African-American producer, who hired her as an intern at Denzel Washington's production company, Mundy Lane Entertainment. Chase would later serve as a mentor to Rhimes and they would work together on The Princess Diaries 2. Rhimes was ranked at the top of her class and earned the Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship. She obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Career

Career beginnings: 1995-2004

After graduation, Rhimes found herself an unemployed scriptwriter in Hollywood. To make ends meet, Rhimes worked at a variety of day jobs, including an office administrator, and then a counselor at a job center that taught mentally ill and homeless people job skills. During this period, Rhimes worked as research director on the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary, Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995). In 1998 Rhimes made a short film, Blossoms and Veils, starring Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jeffrey Wright, which is her only credit as a director. A feature script Rhimes wrote was purchased by New Line Cinema. This was soon followed by an assignment to co-write the acclaimed 1999 HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. It earned numerous awards for its star, Halle Berry.

In 2001, Rhimes wrote Crossroads, the debut film of pop singer Britney Spears. Despite being panned by critics, the film grossed over $60 million worldwide. She then moved on to Disney"?s sequel to its popular 2001 movie The Princess Diaries. Though 2004's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) did not score at the box office like its predecessor, Rhimes later said that she treasured the experience if for nothing else - the opportunity to work with its star, Julie Andrews. In 2003, Rhimes wrote her first pilot, about young female globe-trotting war correspondents, for ABC, but the network turned it down.

Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal and other projects: 2005-present

Rhimes is the creator and currently executive producer and head writer of Grey's Anatomy. The series debuted as a midseason replacement on March 27, 2005. The series focuses on the surgical staff at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital (later to be named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital), in Seattle, Washington. The series features an ensemble cast with Ellen Pompeo serving as titular character Meredith Grey, who provides narration for a majority of the series' episodes. On May 16, 2006, ABC announced plans to relocate Grey's Anatomy from Sunday evenings to Thursdays to anchor the network's Thursday evening programming, by airing Thursdays at 9 p.m.

In 2007, Rhimes created and produced the Grey's Anatomy spin-off series Private Practice, which debuted September 26, 2007, on ABC. The show chronicled the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as she left Seattle Grace Hospital for Los Angeles to join a private practice. The series featured an ensemble cast, including Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs among others. The first season was shortened because of a writers' strike and consists of only nine episodes. In May 2012, ABC picked up Private Practice for the 2012-13 television season with 13 episodes. The series finale was aired January 22, 2013.

In 2010, Rhimes created a new pilot for ABC called Inside the Box, a female-centric ensemble drama set in a Washington, D.C. network news bureau. The lead character was Catherine, an ambitious female news producer who, with her colleagues, pursued "the story" at all costs while juggling their personal animosities and crises of conscience. It was not picked up by the network.

In 2011, Rhimes served as executive producer for the medical drama, Off the Map, which was created by Grey's Anatomy writer, Jenna Bans. It focused on a group of doctors who practice medicine at a remote clinic in the Amazon. The series was officially cancelled by the ABC network on May 13, 2011.

In May 2011, ABC ordered Rhimes's pilot script Scandal to series. Kerry Washington stars as Olivia Pope, a political crisis management expert who is partially based on former Bush administration press aide Judy Smith. The series debut aired on April 5, 2012.

In 2012, she developed the period drama Gilded Lilys, which was not picked up to series.

In December 2013, it was announced that ABC had ordered to pilot the ShondaLand production How to Get Away with Murder. Actress Viola Davis joined the cast as the lead character in February 2014. It was officially picked up to series on May 8, 2014. Rhimes appeared as herself in the 5th episode of Season 3 of The Mindy Project, which aired October 14, 2014.

In 2015, Rhimes developed a pilot called The Catch, based on the Kate Atkinson novel, which columnist Cindy Elavsky described as a "thriller ... about a woman who is about to get married ... and about to get conned." Mireille Enos stars. The show got picked up by ABC and premiered Thursday March 24, 2016, at 10 pm, taking over How to Get Away with Murder's time-slot after the show ended its second season.

In March 2016, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Grey's Anatomy were respectively picked up for their sixth, third and thirteenth seasons, and will air during the 2016-2017 season.

ShondaLand

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ShondaLand is the name of Rhimes's production company. ShondaLand and its logo also refer to the shows Rhimes has created and to Rhimes herself. Shows included in ShondaLand are:

• Grey's Anatomy (2005-present)
• Private Practice (2007-2013)
• Off the Map (2011)
• Scandal (2012-present)
• How to Get Away with Murder (2014-present)
• The Catch (2016-2017)
• Still Star-Crossed (Coming 2017)

Personal life

Rhimes adopted her first daughter in June 2002 and adopted another girl in February 2012. In September 2013, Rhimes welcomed her third daughter via gestational surrogacy.

In 2014, Rhimes gave a commencement address at her alma mater, Dartmouth College, and received an honorary doctorate.

In September 2015, Rhimes revealed she had lost 117 pounds via exercise and dieting. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Filmography

Year	Title	Credited as
		Creator	Director	Writer	Producer
1995	Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream
1998	Blossoms and Veils
1999	Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
2002	Crossroads
2004	The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
2005-present	Grey's Anatomy
2007-13	Private Practice
2009	Inside the Box
2009	Seattle Grace: On Call
2009	Seattle Grace: Message of Hope
2011	Off the Map
2012	Gilded Lilys
2012-present	Scandal
2014-present	How to Get Away with Murder
2016-2017	The Catch
2017	Still Star-Crossed

Awards and nominations

Shonda Rhimes has won a Golden Globe award and was nominated for three Emmy Awards. She has also won awards from the Writer's Guild of America, Producer's Guild of America, and Director's Guild of America. Below is a more complete list.

Banff Television Festival

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2011	Best Continuing Series	Grey's Anatomy

Black Reel Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2005	Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original	The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Directors Guild of America Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2014	DGA Diversity Award	Shonda Rhimes

GLAAD Media Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2012	Golden Gate Award	Shonda Rhimes

Primetime Emmy Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2006	Outstanding Drama Series	Grey's Anatomy
2007

NAACP Image Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2006	Outstanding Drama Series	Grey's Anatomy
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2013
		Scandal
2015	Entertainer of the Year	Shonda Rhimes
2016

Producers Guild of America Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2005	Television Series - Drama	Grey's Anatomy
2006	Television Series - Drama
2007	Television Series - Drama

Writers Guild of America Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2005	New Series	Grey's Anatomy
	Dramatic Series
2006
2015	Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement	Shonda Rhimes