Ken Kwapis
Director
KEN KWAPIS (Director) is an award-winning director who moves easily between the worlds of feature filmmaking and television directing.
A Walk in the Woods, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is Kwapis’ 11th feature. He also directed the rescue adventure Big Miracle, starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski; He’s Just Not That Into You, based on Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo’s nonfiction bestseller, starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson and Justin Long; The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, based on Ann Brashares’ bestselling young adult novel, starring Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Blake Lively; License to Wed, starring Robin Williams, John Krasinski and Mandy Moore; The Beautician and the Beast, starring Fran Drescher and Timothy Dalton; Dunston Checks In, starring Faye Dunaway and Jason Alexander; He Said, She Said, co-directed by Marisa Silver, starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins; and Vibes, starring Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Falk. Kwapis made his feature directorial debut with Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, starring Jim Henson’s Muppets.
For Showtime Independent Films, Kwapis wrote and directed Sexual Life, freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s fin de siécle satire La Ronde, starring Elizabeth Banks, Kerry Washington and Anne Heche. Sexual Life made its debut at the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Kwapis has helped launch eight television series, directing the pilot episodes of such shows as HBO’s groundbreaking comedy The Larry Sanders Show, FOX’s Emmy-winning The Bernie Mac Show and NBC’s The Office. He received an Emmy nomination for directing the third season premiere of The Office (“Gay Witch Hunt”). He also has the distinction of directing both the 100th episode of The Office and the series finale.
Kwapis was executive producer/director of the NBC comedy Outsourced. Adapted from the 2006 independent feature of the same name, Outsourced was developed through Kwapis’ production company, In Cahoots.
Kwapis’ most recent television project was HAPPYish, starring Steve Coogan, Kathryn Hahn and Bradley Whitford. Created, written and executive-produced by Shalom Auslander, HAPPYish premiered on Showtime in April 2015. In addition to serving as executive producer on HAPPYish, Kwapis directed the pilot and three additional episodes of the series. Kwapis’ producing partner, Alex Beattie, co-executive produced under their In Cahoots banner.
Rounding out his television credits, Kwapis directed episodes of the much admired Freaks and Geeks, and was Emmy-nominated for his work as a producer/director on FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle.
Kwapis studied filmmaking at Northwestern University and the University of Southern California. He won the Student Academy Award® in Dramatic Achievement for his USC thesis film For Heaven’s Sake, a contemporary adaptation of Mozart’s one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario).
