Brian Friedman

Brian L. Friedman (born May 28, 1977) is an American dancer and choreographer.

Friedman has created the choreography for many popular music artists – such as Britney Spears, Cher, Beyoncé Knowles, and Mariah Carey – as well as for music videos, concert tours, and television and film productions.

Early life Friedman was born in Highland Park, Illinois.

Friedman began dancing at the age of 11 in his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, and appeared in various movies and TV shows including Newsies, and Kids Incorporated. By the age of 16, he was responsible for his own dance studio.

Friedman trained under Joe Tremaine, Kenny Ortega, Vince Patterson, and Twyla Tharp. As a young dancer, Friedman worked with such artists as Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Salt-N-Pepa, and Patti LaBelle.

He has been credited for providing choreography for films such as Charlie's Angels and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, among others.

Friedman also appeared in a singing group, "Blessed With Soul", along with Brittany Murphy, but left to pursue a career in dance.

At 16, Friedman opened a dance school with his mother in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he taught jazz and hip-hop and she taught ballet and tap.

Career

Choreography Friedman has choreographed and directed music videos and performances for artists including Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Usher, Pink, and Ne-Yo. His work for Spears includes the music videos for "Toxic" and "I'm a Slave 4 U". He has also choreographed for Will & Grace, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the Billboard Music Awards.

In 2011, Friedman re-joined Britney Spears to choreograph the music videos, and performances for her #1 Singles "Hold It Against Me"and "Till the World Ends". In 2019, he was responsible for choreographing all musical numbers in Melanie Martinez' first movie, K–12. That same year, Friedman worked with South Korean girl group Itzy for their song "Icy".

In 2025, Friedman came out of his dancing retirement to appear in the video for Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra".

Television Friedman appeared as a judge and choreographer on the show So You Think You Can Dance?. After two seasons, Friedman was offered a contract by Simon Cowell to appear on his show, Grease Is the Word alongside Sinitta, David Ian, and David Gest. The show lasted only one series. In 2007, Friedman joined the judging panel of the fourth series of The X Factor, alongside Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, and fellow new judge Dannii Minogue. During the auditions, he left the judging panel and was replaced by Louis Walsh, while remaining with the programme as creative director.

Friedman left the British show in 2010, and was re-contracted to work on the American version of the show, The X Factor, alongside the contestants and judges; Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul, and formerly Cheryl Cole.

Friedman finished his judging duties on MTV's Top Pop Group and directed, choreographed, and danced on Dancing with the Stars, before acting as producer and creative director for America's Got Talent, and as creative director for The X Factor USA.

In 2012, Friedman returned to work on The X Factor UK for the ninth series alongside the judges Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, Nicole Scherzinger, and Louis Walsh for the first three weeks of the live shows. After this, Friedman flew back to Los Angeles to work with the acts permanently on the live shows of the second season of the American version alongside Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, and new judges Demi Lovato and Britney Spears. He left the show after the second season, and Jamie King took his position in the third season. He appeared in one episode of Welling Films' dance series Avengers of eXtreme Illusions.

Friedman also choreographed the stage performance for Irish pop duo Jedward for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 semi-final. In 2014, Friedman returned to The X Factor UK as creative director.

Friedman took part in the 2015 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He was the second contestant voted out and finished in tenth place.

He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and London, with his husband Daniel Porter Friedman.

Personal life In an early 2015 interview with Attitude magazine for its Love & Marriage commemorative special issue, Friedman and his partner, Daniel Brown, announced plans for their upcoming wedding.

Friedman married his partner in February 2020.

Friedman is a patron of the Urdang Academy.

Awards Friedman has been nominated for 4 MTV Video Music Awards, 2 Music Video Production Awards, and 5 American Choreography Awards.