PARIS BARCLAY
First Vice President
Directors Guild of America
Paris Barclay is serving in his third term as the First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America. Previously, he served two terms as the Guild’s Third Vice President, the first African American Officer in the history of the Guild. He is a member of the Western Directors Council, the Creative Rights Committee, Past President of the African American Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, and Co-Chair of the DGA PAC Leadership Council. One of the most prominent and acclaimed network TV drama directors, Mr. Barclay first joined the DGA in 1992, was elected to the Western Director’s Council in 1997 and the National Board in 1997.
Mr. Barclay received two Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Directing (and a DGA Award) for his work on the series NYPD Blue (one for Jimmy Smits’ final episode). He has also been honored with four other Emmy nominations, two NAACP Image Awards, two Humanitas Prizes, the Peabody Award, MTV Music Video Award and a Golden Globe nomination. He was co-creator, writer and principal director for the groundbreaking drama City of Angels, which also received three NAACP Image Awards, incuding for Best Dramatic series. Currently, executive producer and principle director of FX's highest rated series ever, Sons of Anarchy.
He has directed three films: Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood for Miramax, The Cherokee Kid for HBO, and The Big Time for TNT.
Mr. Barclay began his directing career with award wining music videos for such artists as Bob Dylan, The New Kids on the Block, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, Harry Connick, Jr. and LL Cool J. Mr. Barclay has also composed and directed numerous musical theatre productions, including One Red Flower, a musical play based on the book Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam. In addition to his industry awards, Mr. Barclay has been recognized for his charitable and community service work for organizations such as GLAAD, Project Angel Food, and the Pan African Film Festival. He and Taylor Hackford shared the 2007 Robert Aldrich Award, given for extraordinary service to the Directors' Guild of America.