Thomas Schlamme

Infobox Actor

---

name = Thomas Schlamme
birthname = Thomas David Schlamme
birthdate = birth date and age|1950|5|22
location = Houston, Texas, USA
spouse = Christine Lahti (1983-present)
emmyawards = Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
1997 "Tracey Takes On..."
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
1999 "Sports Night"
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
2000 "The West Wing"
2001 "The West Wing"
Outstanding Drama Series
2000 "The West Wing"
2001 "The West Wing"
2002 "The West Wing"
2003 "The West Wing"
Outstanding Special Class Program
2002 "The West Wing Documentary Special"

Thomas Schlamme (born May 22, 1950) is an American television director.

Schlamme moved from his native Houston to New York in 1973. After serving in several low level positions for production companies, he founded his own company, Schlamme Productions, in 1980. From there, he produced campaigns for a number of musicals, including "Cats". Throughout the 1980s, he produced a number of specials on various entertainers including Whoopi Goldberg and Rowan Atkinson. He directed his first movie, "Miss Firecracker", in 1989. He also directed the comedy movie, "So I Married an Axe Murderer" in 1993 with Mike Myers.

Beginning in the late 1990s, he served as producer for shows such as "Tracey Takes On" and has directed shows such as "Ally McBeal", "Friends", "ER" and Shaun Cassidy's "Invasion". Schlamme also directed the pilot episode of "Spin City".

He is married to actress Christine Lahti and has three children.

Schlamme first worked with Aaron Sorkin on his short-lived ABC comedy/drama "Sports Night", for which he directed 16 of its 45 episodes. Their biggest break was in 1999, teaming up again on their hit political drama "The West Wing". He directed the pilot episode and from then on served as the executive producer until 2003. He directed 14 episodes of "The West Wing" in addition to serving as executive producer. He directed the pilot episode of his latest collaboration with Sorkin, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", and was executive producing the show until it was cancelled on May 14, 2007.

References

*cite news |title=Behind the Scenes with Thomas Schlamme |author=Darrell L. Hope |year=2000 |month=July |publisher=DGA Monthly Magazine |url=http://www.dga.org/news/v25_2/feat_schlamme.php3 |accessdate=2007-01-31
*cite web | author=Elif Cercel | title=Interview with Thomas Schlamme, Director and Executive Producer, "Sports Night" | date=1999-11-11 | work=Directors World | url=http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/archives/1999/11/interview_with.html | accessdate=2007-01-31

External links

*imdb|0772095
* [http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/189496 Hollywood.com bio]