Printable Biography of Davis Guggenheim

Davis Guggenheim was the director and executive producer of the Academy Award winning documentary feature An Inconvenient Truth with former Vice President, Al Gore. He was producer and director of the Emmy Award winning HBO series Deadwood. His television directing credits include the pilot of the CBS show The Unit as well as episodes of Numbers, The Shield, Alias, 24, and such critically acclaimed programs as NYPD Blue, ER, and Party of Five. He was an executive producer of Training Day and director of the film Gossip for Warner Brothers. He directed and produced the feature film Gracie, which came out in June of 2007.

In 1999, Guggenheim undertook an ambitious project documenting the challenging first year of several novice public school teachers. The result of this intensive immersion into Los Angeles’ public school system is two documentary films: The First Year and Teach. Both films were made to address the tremendous need for qualified teachers in California and nationwide, to create awareness of the crisis as well as inspire the next generation to become teachers.

Guggenheim continued his investigation of education in America with his 2010 documentary, Waiting for Superman. The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system. Waiting for Superman received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Best Documentary Feature at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.