John Carrafa is a two-time Tony Nominated, Lortel Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle and Obie Award winning Broadway director/choreographer. He’s also a Media Choreography Award and World Dance Feature Film Award winning television and film choreographer.

Recent television credits include Julian Fellowes THE GILDED AGE, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, DEAD TO ME, SUCCESSION, BARRY, THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, Stephen Soderbergh’s THE KNICK, TRANSPARENT, THE BLACK LIST, BLUE BLOODS, MANIAC, HAPPY! HAPPYISH, NURSE JACKIE, PRODIGAL SON and the Disney Musical FREAKY FRIDAY.  He choreographed the Emmy winning “Eat Shit Bob” mega-musical number for LAST WEEK WITH JOHN OLIVER. He was series choreographer for six seasons of the ABC/CMT show NASHVILLE which he also directed and as well as Season 1 of EMPIRE.

Upcoming television includes Season 4 of WESTWORLD, Season 2 of THE GILDED AGE, the new Scott L. Burns drama EXTRAPOLATIONS, starring Meryl Streep, Daveed Diggs, Toby Maguire, Forrest Whitaker and Marion Cotillard, THREE WOMEN starring Shailene Woodley, Betty Gilpin and DeWanda Wise, LOOT starring Maya Rudolph, and the new David E. Kelly crime drama, THE MISSING, directed by Barry Levinson.

He pioneered the use of Motion Capture technology to create choreography on THE POLAR EXPRESS for to win the Media Choreography Award and received the World Dance Feature Film for SOMETHING BORROWED. Other films include THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, BRIDE WARS, ANALYZE THAT, IF I STAY, LET’S BE COPS, THE OTHER GUYS, REBEL IN THE RYE, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO and THE CHAPERONE.

Broadway credits include: URINETOWN THE MUSICAL (Tony Nomination), James Lapine’s DIRTY BLONDE, Terrance MacNally’s LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! DANCE OF DEATH with Ian Mckellan and Helen Mirren, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and GOOD VIBRATIONS, which he also directed. He received a TONY NOMINATION for his work collaborating with Stephen Sondheim on a new Broadway production of INTO THE WOODS starring Vanessa Williams and worked with Sondheim again on A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at the Kennedy Center starring Kristen Bell and Blair Brown. Also at the Kennedy Center, he choreographed Richard Wagner’s RING CYCLE for the Washington Opera, starring Placido Domingo.

He’s choreographed three musicals for the NY City Center Encores Series, OUT OF THIS WORLD, THE PAJAMA GAME and ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER.

He’s been a collaborator both as a director and choreographer in the creation of countless original musicals. He won Best Director both at the NY MUSICAL THEATER FESTIVAL and the Daegu, Korea INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL for his direction of the original musical ACADEMY and choreographed the original musical version of FINDING NEMO at Disneyworld.

Other work includes Creative Director/Producer for the National Basketball Association, Director for concerts such as CAROLE KING AND FRIENDS at Madison Square Garden and the SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME CONCERT with Paul Macartney, Director/choreographer of the alternative circus, CIRQUE BERZERK at the Nokia Center and co-creator and director of the musical SHOWDOWN which has been running on Norwegian Cruise Lines since 2008.

He has choreographed music videos for SARAH BAREILLES, EDITORS, GREG LASWELL as well as MACHINE GUN KELLY’s live Perfomance at the 2022 VMA Awards.

Commercials for a countless top brands including VERA WANG, SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL, ATT, SPRINT, OLD NAVY, THE GAP, BARNES & NOBLE.

He’s known for being equally comfortable choreographing both lead actors with little or no dance training, and highly trained technical dancers. With the philosophy that everyone can dance, his calm and methodical approach has brought out the inner dancer in a countless number of the biggest stars in our industry. Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Daveed Diggs, Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson, Connie Britton, Kate Hudson are just a few.