Asaad Kelada

Asaad Kelada (; born May 11, 1940) is an Egyptian-American television director of many American television sitcoms.

Early life Kelada was born in Cairo, Egypt and he studied drama under Youssef Chahine at the American University in Cairo. In 1961, he emigrated to the United States and studied directing at the Yale School of Drama.

Career After directing stage plays and teaching drama in the 1960s and 1970s, he landed his first opportunity to direct for television in 1976, with an episode of the sitcom Rhoda, "Rhoda Questions Her Life and Flies to Paris". Since that time, he has directed episodes of several well-known sitcoms including Benson, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Facts of Life, Family Ties, and Who's the Boss?, where he directed 117 episodes and was also listed as producer on 51 episodes.

Kelada spoke with DGA Magazine and said that good casting is essential to the success of a comedy, because "you cannot make the actor be funny". He said that where drama is "analytical," comedy is "much more technical. It's about rhythm, timing, pace, and energy."

Filmography