Ken Burns

Biography

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 book--priced at a hefty $50--sold more than 700,000 copies. The audio version, narrated by Burns, was also a major best-seller. In the final accounting, "The Civil War" became the first documentary to gross over $100 million. Not surprisingly, it has become perennial fund-raising programming for pub…

Directed

1. The Vietnam War (2017) — Director
2. The Civil War (1990) — Director
3. The Central Park Five (2012) — Director
4. The War (2007) — Director
5. Prohibition (2011) — Director
6. Baseball (1994) — Director
7. The American Revolution (2025) — Director
8. The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014) — Director
9. Jazz (2001) — Director
10. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004) — Director
11. The Dust Bowl (2012) — Director
12. Country Music (2019) — Director
13. Frank Lloyd Wright (1998) — Director
14. The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009) — Director
15. Muhammad Ali (2021) — Director
16. Brooklyn Bridge (1981) — Director
17. Mark Twain (2002) — Director
18. Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War (2016) — Director
19. The Statue of Liberty (1985) — Director
20. Hemingway (2021) — Director
21. Benjamin Franklin (2022) — Director
22. The American Buffalo (2023) — Director
23. The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022) — Director
24. Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997) — Director
25. Leonardo da Vinci (2024) — Director
26. Thomas Jefferson (1997) — Director
27. The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984) — Director
28. Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003) — Director
29. Huey Long (1985) — Director
30. Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) — Director
31. Baseball: The Tenth Inning (2010) — Director
32. Jackie Robinson (2016) — Director
33. The Address (2014) — Director
34. The Mayo Clinic (2018) — Director
35. The Congress (1989) — Director
36. Thomas Hart Benton (1989) — Director
37. Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony (1999) — Director
38. Baseball: The Tenth Inning (2010) — Director
39. De la poussière et des hommes (2021) — Director
40. Henry David Thoreau (2026) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The Simpsons (1989) — Ken Burns (voice)
2. The Daily Show (1996) — Self
3. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014) — Self - Guest
4. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) — Self - Guest
5. The Colbert Report (2005) — Self
6. The Mindy Project (2012) — Ken Burns
7. Late Show with David Letterman (1993) — Self - Guest
8. Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) — Self - Guest
9. The View (1997) — Self
10. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) — Self
11. 60 Minutes (1968) — Self
12. Wordplay (2006) — Self
13. Difficult People (2015) — Ken Burns
14. Today (1952) — Self
15. The Problem with Jon Stewart (2021) — Self
16. Finding Your Roots (2012) — Self
17. In the Know (2024) — Self
18. Very Ralph (2019) — Self
19. Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation (2000) — Self
20. The Tony Danza Show (2004) — Self
21. Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself (2012) — Himself
22. Back on the Record with Bob Costas (2021) — Self
23. CNN Special Report (1980) — Self
24. Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (2018)
25. This Week (1981)
26. The Unmaking of a College (2022) — Self
27. The Tim McCarver Show (2005)
28. A Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939 (2010)
29. Ken Burns: One Nation, Many Stories (2024)
30. OETA's On the Record: Ken Burns (2014) — Self
31. Ken Burns: Here & There (2020) — Himself
32. Here For A Good Time (2020) — Self
33. Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America (2019) — Self - Director and Producer
34. Spirit of Golf (2023) — Self
35. Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit (2013) — Narrator (Voice)
36. MLB: Baseball's Seasons (2009) — Self - Filmmaker
37. Craft in America (2007) — Himself