Don Roy King

Donald Roy King (born October 9, 1947) is an American television director. He served as the director for Saturday Night Live from the year 2006 until 2021. He has "directed more hours of live network television than anyone else in the history of television,"

Early life King is a native of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. His father worked as a mailman, with both his parents supporting his interests in sports and the arts. King was active as an athlete as a young student, and also directed classmates in small plays. He initially planned on attending West Point, with a medical exam later finding something wrong with his back and preventing him from applying. In eighth grade, he traveled with classmates to New York to see several Broadway musicals, with King developing a "crush" on New York City, aiming to eventually have a career there.

He attended Gateway High School, graduating in 1965, and Pennsylvania State University, graduating in 1969 with a degree in broadcasting. King went on to be nominated for five Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Individual Direction For A Variety Show. He won in 1977 for The Mike Douglas Show, for the episode with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire appearing together for the first time. At the age of 27 or 28, after already earning an Emmy for directing, he enrolled again in acting classes. At one point in his career, he was asked to be on a Blue Ribbon Panel for the Emmys, which he recollects gave him an understanding of how subjective it is to discern good directing. His assignments for various networks also took him to "20 countries and 38 states," with King working on productions and directing shows for "morning shows, documentaries, telethons, sporting events, concerts, and musicals."

As of 2017, he was in his 11th season with SNL, and had won "six primetime Emmy awards, a daytime Emmy and three awards from the Directors Guild of America."

He has been nominated for thirteen Directors Guild of America awards, which he won in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

In 2010, he consulted on the film Morning Glory, where "he ensured that the TV scene was depicted accurately," and also played Merv the Director. In 2018, he was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, again for SNL, winning. and 13 nominations.

Broadway Worldwide He has spoken about the television industry at events

Filmography

Awards and nominations