Ken Kwapis

Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is a versatile American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, he grew up in neighboring Belleville. He attended the Jesuit preparatory academy at St. Louis University High School. Kwapis earned a bachelor's degree at Northwestern University's School of Speech, and furthered his studies in the M.F.A. program at the USC School of Cinema-Television. His twenty-four-minute thesis film, For Heaven's Sake, won the Student Academy Award in 1982. The film is a contemporary adaptation of Mozart's one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario).

Kwapis started his career in 1983 and quickly rose to prominence. His body of work includes directing episodes of well-known sitcoms such as Freaks and Geeks, The Office, and Malcolm in the Middle. Additionally, he has directed feature films like Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Kwapis is appreciated for his contributions to series television, his efforts in directing pilots of HBO's comedy The Larry Sanders Show, and Fox's popular The Bernie Mac Show. In 2022, he directed all seven episodes of the second season of Space Force on Netflix. A memoir of his career in film and television titled But What I Really Want to do is Direct was released on October 6, 2020.