Speaker

Shonda Rhimes @shondarhimes

Grey's Anatomy, Scandal Award-winning screenwriter and producer

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of the hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy," which chronicles the personal and professional lives of surgical residents in Seattle, "Private Practice," which follows Addison Montgomery and her friends at Oceanside Wellness Group and "Scandal," which revolves around the life and work of a professional crisis manager and her dysfunctional staff.

 

In its ninth season, "Grey's Anatomy" continues to be hailed by audiences and critics. For her work on the series, Rhimes received the 2007 Television Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America, the 2007 Golden Globe for Outstanding Television Drama, the 2007 Lucy Award for Excellence in Television from Women in Film, the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series, the 2006 Writers Guild Award for Best New Series, in addition to Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and Writing for a Drama Series.  Rhimes was also the recipient of the 2012 GLAAD Golden Gate Award, 2010 RAINN Hope Award and a 2009 GLSEN Respect Awards Honoree.

 

Aside from her success with network television, Rhimes wrote the feature film "Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement," released in August 2004 by Disney. Additionally, her original script, "Crossroads," was released in 2002 by Paramount. She also co-wrote "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," produced by HBO and nominated for numerous awards, and for which Halle Berry won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Best Actress in a miniseries for her portrayal of Dandridge.  In 2004, Rhimes created her production company Shondaland. 

 

Rhimes worked as research director on the Tollin-Robbins/Mundy Lane documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream." It was nominated for an Emmy Award, an Academy Award and won the Peabody, as well as the NAACP Image Award. She has been a guest speaker at the USC School of Cinema-Television, where she taught a course in scene writing.

 

Rhimes holds a BA from Dartmouth College in English Literature with Creative Writing. As director of Dartmouth's Black Underground Theatre and Arts Association, her work earned her numerous awards for excellence. She received her MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television, where she was awarded the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship.

 

The child of educators, Rhimes blames her parents for her rampant addiction to books. The youngest of six, she was born and raised outside of Chicago, IL, and now resides in Los Angeles with her two daughters.