George C. Wolfe

A renowned director and playwright of theater and film, five-time Tony Award® winner George C. Wolfe has firmly established himself as one of America’s most important and influential cultural voices. Wolfe most recently directed the award-winning feature film adaptation of August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. Wolfe first gained critical acclaim in 1986 for his penning of the Off-Broadway production of The Colored Museum, which established him as a bold new voice in the American theatre. Other work as a writer includes Wolfe’s adaptation of Spunk, three short stories from author Zora Neale Hurston. In 1991, he directed Jelly’s Last Jam, which earned 11 Tony® nominations, including two for Wolfe for Best Book of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. In 1993, Wolfe would go on to helm the original production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, for which he would win his first of five Tony Awards®, and its follow-up production Angels in America: Perestroika. Wolfe garnered his second Tony Award® for Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, a musical which he conceived, produced, and directed featuring tap-dance sensation Savion Glover. Other Broadway productions helmed by Wolfe include Elaine Stritch At Liberty, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, The Tempest, Golden Child, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog, The Normal Heart, and Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy starring Tom Hanks. Wolfe made his feature film debut in 2005 when he directed HBO’s critically acclaimed tele-picture Lackawanna Blues, that was followed by Nights in Rodanthe starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, and the HBO film The Life of Henrietta Lacks, starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne. In 2018, Wolfe returned to Broadway to direct Eugene O’Neill’s classic play The Iceman Cometh starring Denzel Washington in the lead role. The production received rave reviews and garnered Wolfe his 15th Tony Award® nomination.