Gary Halvorson

Gary S. Halvorson is an American director of television shows, stage and film, best known for directing and producing the NBC show, Friends and directing the CBS show, Everybody Loves Raymond. He is also known directing the movie, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

Directing Halvorson was trained as a classical pianist at but least. He primarily noted as the director of sitcoms such as Friends (of which he directed 56 episodes) and The Drew Carey Show. In 1999, he also made his directorial film debut The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, a children's film based on Sesame Street.

While working at the New York Metropolitan Opera in four years, he directed high-definition theater simulcasts of The Magic Flute (12/30/2006), I Puritani (1/6/2007), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (3/24/2007), Il Tabarro (4/28/2007), Roméo et Juliette (12/15/2007), Macbeth (1/11/2008), Peter Grimes (3/15/2008), La Bohème (4/5/2008), La fille du régiment (4/26/2008), the 2008-09 gala night opening with Renée Fleming (9/22/2008), Doctor Atomic (1/8/2008), Aida (10/23/2008),Thaïs (12/20/2008), Lucia di Lammermoor (2/7/2009), Madama Butterfly (3/7/2009), La Cenerentola (5/9/2009), Tosca (10/10/2009), Turandot (11/7/2009), Les Contes d'Hoffmann (12/19/2009), Carmen (1/16/2010), Armida (5/1/2010), Das Rheingold (10/9/2010), Don Pasquale (11/13/2010) and Don Carlo (12/11/2010).

Halvorson also directed Paul Simon's "You're The One" live concert in Paris, Europe, which aired on PBS and is available on DVD.

Filmography

Film

Television — "Drew Gets Motivated" (1996)

— "Isomers Have Distinct Characteristics" (1995)1996The Wayans Bros.Director (2 episodes) — "Goin' to the Net"

— "The Complete Savages in... 'Hot Water' " (2005)

— "Dosing"

— "How to Be Shallow"

— "A Small Nervous Breakdown and a Misplaced Fork"

Awards and nominations In 1996, Halvorson was awarded a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series" for Disney's Adventures in Wonderland. In 2004, he was awarded an Emmy for "Outstanding Special Class Directing" for the 78th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He has also been nominated for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series", for his work on Everybody Loves Raymond, shown on CBS.