Ezra Edelman

Ezra Benjamin Edelman (born August 6, 1974) is an American documentary producer and director. He won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming for directing O.J.: Made in America. He has also directed The Book of Prince, a documentary on the musician Prince, that remains unreleased.

Early life and education Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Marian Wright Edelman, former civil rights leader and aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, and Peter Edelman, former aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation, and professor at Georgetown University Law Center. His father is Jewish.

Edelman graduated from Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. in July 1992, before going on to earn his bachelor's degree from Yale University.

Career Documentary projects Edelman is best known for producing and directing the Academy Award-winning 2016 documentary film O.J.: Made in America for ESPN's 30 for 30. The Curious Case of Curt Flood (2011) He also wrote and directed a special on the former Big East Conference called Requiem for the Big East, also a part of the 30 for 30 series. Edelman produced Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, an HBO documentary series that ran for two seasons.

In 2024, Edelman produced Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. for HBO, revolving around Stax Records. and Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae for Onyx Collective and Hulu, revolving around Indigenous activist Anna Mae Aquash.

In 2018, it was reported that Edelman would be developing a biopic with writer Rowan Ricardo Phillips for Legendary Entertainment, based on the life of baseball player Roberto Clemente.

The Book of Prince Over five years Edelman developed The Book of Prince a nine-hour, six-part documentary about the musician Prince. He was recruited to the project for Netflix in 2019 by Lisa Nishimura, then vice president of independent film and documentary features, with the promise of access to "the vault," Prince's archive of unreleased material. Edelman said in a March 2025 interview that it would never be released because he doesn't "feel like getting sued."

Personal life Edelman lives in Brooklyn, New York City.