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Whether as Producer, Director or Choreographer, Kenny Ortega’s work is known and loved by millions around the world.
Kenny has been the recipient of three Emmy Awards, a DGA Award (Director’s Guild of America) with back to back nominations, Imagen Creative Achievement Award, an American Choreography Lifetime Achievement Award, MTV Video Music Award, ALMA Award, Nosotros Golden Eagle Award, Bob Fosse Award as well as a number of others. He has been interviewed by various news outlets and has been profiled in The LA Times, Newsweek and Time Magazine all in recent years. His television appearances include The Tonight Show, Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Recently Kenny was profiled on CBS Evening News with Charles Gibson as the “Person of the Week.” A Redwood City, California native, Ortega began his career at age 13 performing in area plays until eventually landing a leading role in the original San Francisco touring production of “Hair.” In the 1980s, he became known for his stage direction and choreography of the A&M recording artists The Tubes. It was a Tubes performance in Los Angeles that caught the attention of Cher who asked Ortega to choreograph her television special. Soon, Ortega became the most-sought after Choreographer for the industry's biggest musical artists including Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Bette Midler and The Pointer Sisters, to name a few. When Ortega made the transition from stage choreography to film choreography, he had the honor of working with the legendary Gene Kelly on the feature film "Xanadu" and then again on Francis Ford Coppola's "One From the Heart." Kelly soon became Ortega's mentor and taught him the art of designing choreography for the camera. Ortega’s film choreography includes "Dirty Dancing," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Pretty in Pink" and "St. Elmo's Fire" as well as many others. Ortega has collaborated on numerous theatrical and large-scale outdoor spectacles. In the Summer of 2007 he Directed and Choreographed Hugh Jackman in the record-breaking “The Boy From Oz Arena Tour” in Australia. In Las Vegas, Kenny is the artistic Director for "The Lake of Dreams" at the Wynn Hotel as well as Co-Producing the grand openings of Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio and Wynn Macau (China) with Steve and Elaine Wynn. Prior to this, Kenny had choreographed the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio Hotel as well as several other productions at various resort properties over the years. Kenny recently returned from Producing the Grand Opening of the Wynn’s “Encore” hotel and casino in conjunction with Steve Wynn’ birthday. In network television, two of Ortega’s Emmy wins were for his work directing and choreographing the “2002 Salt Lake Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies.” In episodics he has served as Director on episodes of "Gilmore Girls,” "Ally McBeal," "Chicago Hope" and "Grounded for Life," which garnered him an additional Emmy nomination. Kenny Directed Walt Disney Pictures' "Newsies" and "Hocus Pocus" and most recently Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” and “High School Musical 2” which were both the most successful Disney Channel Original Movies to date when they premiered. High School Musical 2 drew over 17 million viewers when it premiered making it the most watch program in Cable telecast history (and still is). Together “High School Musical” 1 and 2 have been seen by over 250 Million people worldwide and both movies have broken numerous sales records for their Soundtracks and DVDs and earned Ortega another Emmy win for Choreography. Kenny is also the Executive Producer for both of the movie’s multi-platinum soundtracks. High School Musical also spawned a 3 company international touring Ice Show of which Kenny is Executive Producer as well as Director of the National Arena and International Stadium Tours of High School Musical. In Fall of 2007, Kenny Directed the fastest selling concert tour in history, the Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus “Best of Both Worlds Tour” featuring The Jonas Bros. In 2008 Kenny Directed and Executive Produced High School Musical 3: Senior Year (HSM 3) for Walt Disney Motion Pictures. HSM 3 was the biggest theatrical box office opening for a musical in history.
Representation: Julie McDonald - Tony Selznick - Andrew Jacobs Ph: 323-957-6680 Fax: 323-957-6688 For Full List of Television Directing Credits Contact Andy Patman at Paradigm: 310-277-4400 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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