About
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...
Known for
The SimpsonsSeries • 1989
The Mindy ProjectSeries • 2012
InterstellarMovie • 2014
Difficult PeopleSeries • 2015
Country MusicSeries • 2019
BaseballSeries • 1994
The Civil WarSeries • 1990
The American RevolutionSeries • 2025
ProhibitionSeries • 2011
The Vietnam WarSeries • 2017
The WarSeries • 2007
JazzSeries • 2001
The Roosevelts: An Intimate HistorySeries • 2014
The National Parks: America's Best IdeaSeries • 2009
Muhammad AliSeries • 2021
The Dust BowlSeries • 2012
The Central Park FiveMovie • 2012
Frank Lloyd WrightSeries • 1998
Brooklyn BridgeMovie • 1981
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack JohnsonMovie • 2004