Paris Barclay

Born 1956

An openly gay, African-American director (mostly of TV), Paris Barclay originally harbored dreams of creating projects for the stage. While an undergraduate at Harvard University, he wrote some 16 musicals as well as contributing to the annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals productions.

Moving to NYC to pursue his dream, he studied under Stephen Sondheim and Charles Strouse at the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop. He eventually saw his show "Almost a Man", adapted from a Richard Wright story, produced Off-Broadway.

Having conquered substance abuse problems, Barclay landed a stint working in advertising which in turn led to the opportunity to direct commercials. From there, Barclay made the jump to music videos, collaborating with artists like Harry Connick Jr, Barry White, Luther Vandross and Bob Dylan.

His music video reel convinced producer John Wells to hire him as a director for the short-lived series "Angel Street" (CBS, 1992), and that connection with Wells eventually led to his directing for NBC's "ER".

Along the way, Barclay oversaw episodes of other series (i.e., "Second Noah" and "Sliders") before he more or less settled in at "NYPD Blue". His attempt to leap to the big screen resulted in the hit-and-miss comedy parody "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in Hood" (1996).

Barclay also has handled the occasional telefilm, most notably the comedy Western "The Cherokee Kid" (HBO, 1996) but his primary allegiance remains to "NYPD Blue", where he has worked his way up to "fifth in command", helming five episodes a year and worrying about virtually every aspect of production as supervising producer. The Emmy-winning director of the 1997 episode "Lost Israel, Part 2" will become a co-executive producer of the popular series in the 1999-2000 season.

Born

On 06/30/1956 in Chicago Heights, Illinois

Job Titles

Actor, producer, screenwriter, playwright, composer, director

Education

ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, New York, New York

Studied with Charles Strouse and Stephen Sondheim

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

English BA

Wrote musicals; roomed for three years with Arthur Golden, future best-selling author of "Memoirs of a Geisha"; twice beat out other students to write music for the school's annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals revues

La Lumiere School, La Porte, Indiana

A Catholic boarding and day college-preparatory institution; football prowess (and good grades) helped earn him a scholarship; today, there's a Barclay Family Scholarship which sends one student a year to the school (not necessarily based on race, but on talent in athletics or the arts)

Partial List of Credits

Directed episodes of:

Angel Street

Sliders

Diagnosis: Murder

Brooklyn South

NYPD Blue

(Was also a supervising producer of the show)

City of Angels

American Dreams

ER

Fastlane

The West Wing

Huff

The Shield

NUMB3RS

House

Cold Case

Theatrical movie:

Don't Be a Menace to South Central While

Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

Television pilot:

The Street Lawyer. Based on the novel by John Grisham.

Not picked up as a series.

Television movies:

America's Dream

The Big Time (TNT)

The Cherokee Kid (HBO)