Greg Berlanti

Prolific writer-producer Greg Berlanti was responsible for some of the most thoughtful and heartfelt television comedies and dramas of the late '90s and early 2000s, including "Jack and Bobby" (The WB 2004-05), "Everwood" (The WB 2002-06) and "Brothers & Sisters" (ABC 2006-2011), as well as the rousing action-fantasy show "Arrow" (The CW 2012- ). Born May 24, 1972 in Rye, New York, Berlanti earned his degree from Northwestern University before heading west to write and produce for the WB's young adult juggernaut series "Dawson's Creek" (The WB 1998-2003). From there, he struck up a business partnership with producer Mickey Liddell, who oversaw his feature debut as a writer and director on "The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy" (2000), a gay-themed comedy-drama starring Timothy Olyphant. Berlanti returned to the WB that same year with a short-lived "Dawson's Creek" spin-off called "Young Americans" (The WB 2000) before issuing two of the network's most praised series: "Jack and Bobby," which detailed the lives of two brothers, one of whom was destined to become president of the United States, and "Everwood," a family drama about life in a small Colorado town. Though both drew critical praise and several award nominations, neither earned a large enough audience to keep them on the air for any length of time. With the cancellation of "Everwood," Berlanti ended his connection with Liddell and moved to ABC, where he took over the struggling drama "Brothers & Sisters." He stepped down from his showrunner duties on that series to produce other programs for the network, including "Dirty Sexy Money" (2007-09), quirky legal drama "Eli Stone" (2008-09) and superhero comedy-drama "No Ordinary Family" (2010-2011), all of which, like his efforts for The WB, were critically acclaimed but low-rated. Berlanti then returned to features, directing the romantic comedy "Life as We Know It" (2010) and penning the script for Warner's big-screen adaptation of the DC Comics favorite "Green Lantern" (2011), though in both cases, the results were poorly received by fans and reviewers alike. His next comic book-related effort, "Arrow," took a realistic approach to the long-running "Green Arrow" title. It proved to be a major hit for the network, and preceded a flurry of activity from Berlanti, including the Washington-based soap/drama miniseries "Political Animals" (USA 2012), which earned an Emmy nod for star Sigourney Weaver. Less successful were "Golden Boy" (2013), a police drama for CBS, and the CW's "Tomorrow People" (2013-2014), a new version of the popular '70s-era British science fiction series of the same name. Both expired after a single season, but Berlanti was soon hard at work on a new DC Comics adaptation, "The Flash" (The CW 2014- ), which was designed as a spin-off from "Arrow."