Glenn Weiss

Glenn Weiss is an American producer and director of television and live events. He has won 14 Emmy Awards and eight Directors Guild of America awards as a director and producer for various awards shows and reality shows including the Tony Awards, Kennedy Center Honors, and Academy Awards. As of 2026, he is the director of the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.

Early life Weiss was raised in a Jewish family. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1983.

Career

Weiss started his career working at the Washington, D.C., bureau of CNN while still a full-time University of Maryland student before becoming a producer and director at Fox affiliate WTTG. His first national credit was America's Most Wanted, followed by other shows including Studs, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Gladiators 2000, and talk shows hosted by Jane Pratt and Tempestt Bledsoe in the years since.

As of 2018, Weiss has won 14 Emmy Awards, and, as of 2015, five Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and has been nominated for Producers Guild of America Awards. for which he has garnered three directing Primetime Emmys and has directed and produced Primetime Emmy Awards. Other directing credits include the Kennedy Center Honors, CableACE Awards, Billboard Music Awards, BET Awards, Peter Pan Live!, The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage!, Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the Primetime Emmy Awards, Live from Lincoln Center, and the American Music Awards. He also directed the 2020 DNC.

Among the Academy Awards ceremonies that Weiss was the director of was the 94th Academy Awards. According to executive Rob Mills in a Variety article referring to the Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident,

Personal life During the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 18th, 2018, Weiss made headlines by proposing to long-time girlfriend Jan Svendsen during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for his work on that year's Academy Awards. He proposed by saying, "You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife." The ring previously belonged to his mother, who had died two and a half weeks prior. The moment was widely shared on social media platforms Twitter and Instagram. They got married on 14 February 2023, with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi officiating.