Ian Brennan

Ian Brennan (born April 23, 1978) is an American screenwriter, director and actor. He is known for creating the American television shows Glee, Scream Queens, The Politician, and Monster.

Early life Brennan is the son of John and Charman Brennan. He is of Irish and Italian descent and his father was a Paulist priest. Brennan spent four years at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, during the mid-1990s, and was a member of the school show choir, which he did not find particularly enjoyable. He was friends with actress Jennifer Morrison. Brennan aspired to be an actor, and as his high school musical director was also the show choir director, he joined the choir to enhance his chance of being cast in musical productions. Brennan credits his high school theatre director John Marquette for inspiring him to act. The character Will Schuester in Glee is partially based on Marquette. Brennan went on to study theatre at Loyola University Chicago. before moving to New York City to continue his acting career. He has performed in off-Broadway plays at the Vineyard, Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theatres.

Career Brennan conceived the idea for Glee based on his own experience as a member of the Prospect High School show choir. He explained: "I find it interesting that there is something in everybody, a longing for something transcendent, particularly in a place like Mt. Prospect, a place that's very suburban and normal and plain. Even in places like that, there's this desire to shine. That's fascinating and very funny to me, especially when people try to accomplish this through show choir – which, to me, is inherently a little ridiculous." Murphy had been in a show choir while at college, and as such felt he could relate to the script. Murphy and his Nip/Tuck colleague Brad Falchuk suggested that Glee be adapted to a television show format. Brennan, Falchuk and Murphy wrote all of the show's episodes in the first two seasons, and were nominated for two 2010 Writers Guild of America Awards for Glee, with nominations in the Best Comedy Series and Best New Series categories. Glee concluded after its sixth season, which aired in early 2015.

Brennan, Falchuk and Murphy created Scream Queens, a comedy-horror series set on a college campus and in a hospital, that aired from September 2015 to December 2016, and starred Emma Roberts, Ariana Grande, Lea Michele, Keke Palmer, Abigail Breslin, and Jamie Lee Curtis. In 2022, Brennan and Murphy created the biographical crime series Monster, which was then conceived as a limited series based on the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but later became an anthology series with the announcement of its second season.

Personal life Brennan lives in both New York City and Los Angeles. He married actress Trilby Glover in September 2016 and the couple have two children, Blaise (born in April 2016) and Juno (born in August 2018).

Credits

Film and television Year Title Format Role Notes 2000 Early Edition Television series Valet Episode "Everybody Goes to Rick's" Too Much Flesh Film Bert 2002 No Sleep 'til Madison Film Dave 2006 Flourish Film Dr. Carter Kaufman Growing Short film Writer, actor (Jeremy) Save the Last Dance 2 Direct-to-DVD film Franz 2007 I Think I Love My Wife Film Department Store Salesman #1 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Television series Lance Morein Episode "Renewal" CSI: NY Television series Joe Silver Episode "Buzzkill" 2008 New Amsterdam Television series Chris Duncan Episode "Keep the Change" 2009 Staten Island Film Hippie in Tree Infamous Video game Voice 2009–2015 Glee Television series Co-creator, writer, narrator, director 2011 The Glee Project TV program Judge 2014 Cooties Film Writer, actor (Vice Principal Simms) 2015–2016 Scream Queens Television series Co-creator, writer, director 2018 LA to Vegas Television series Writer Episode: "#PilotFight" 2019–2020 The Politician Television series Co-creator, writer, director 2020 Hollywood Limited series Co-creator and writer Ratched Television series Writer 2021 Halston Limited series Writer 2022–present Monster Anthology series Co-creator, writer, director The Watcher Television series Co-creator and writer

Theatre Year Title Role Theatre 1999 Saturday Night Gene Gorman O'Rourke Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago Finian's Rainbow Performer Marriott Theatre, Chicago 2005–2006 The Man in the White Suit Performer Martel Theatre, Poughkeepsie, New York and Beckett Theatre New York City