Suzanne de Passe

Suzanne de Passe
Born Suzanne Celeste DePasse
(1946-07-19) July 19, 1946
New York, New York, U.S.
Residence Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Executive Producer, Chairman, Television Producer, Entrepreneur
Years active 1968-present
Spouse(s) Paul Le Mat (1978-present) 3 children
Website de Passe Jones Entertainment

Suzanne de Passe (born July 19, 1946)[1] is an American television, music and film producer as well as the co-chairman of de Passe Jones Entertainment Group.

Career

De Passe began her career at Motown as Creative Assistant to company founder, Berry Gordy.[2] Early in her career, de Passe discovered Michael Jackson. She was instrumental in taking the record label to television with a host of critically acclaimed and highly rated specials, including the multiple award winning Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever produced while she was President of Motown Productions.[3]

When Motown was sold, she partnered with her mentor in Gordy/de Passe Productions and subsequently established de Passe Entertainment in 1992. De Passe's long association with Mr. Gordy was featured in the December 2008 issue of Vanity Fair: Motown the Untold Story, The Labels Greatest Legends, In Their Own Words with photography by Annie Leibovitz.

The subject of two Harvard Business School case studies: "Suzanne de Passe and Motown Productions" and "de Passe Entertainment", de Passe has lectured at the Harvard Business School on several occasions. In 2002, de Passe was named Time Warner Visiting Professor to the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University's John H. Johnson School of Communications, a post she held for the requisite 3 years. During Howard University's 138th Charter Day celebration in March 2006, de Passe received an honorary doctorate degree of Doctor of Humanities. De Passe is currently serving as the Producer-in-Residence at Emerson College, School of the Arts in Boston. She also served as the Emerson College 2007 Balfour Distinguished Lecturer.

De Passe served as Executive Producer of the half-hour, situation comedies, Sister, Sister and Smart Guy, both of which aired on the WB Network and were produced in association with Paramount and Disney Television, respectively.

From 2002 until 2008 served as Executive Producer of Showtime at the Apollo, a weekly variety program nationally syndicated by Warner Brother/Telepictures. In 2005 and 2006 she co-created, wrote, and Executive Produced the Black Movie Awards for TNT. Currently, she is developing King, a film on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[4]

De Passe is currently featured in HBO's, The Black List: Vol. 2. This is the second installment of the documentary including other prominent African Americans such as filmmaker Tyler Perry, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and Pastor T.D. Jakes.

Current projects

Television

Mini-series

Television Movies

Network

Cable

Specials

Series

First Run Syndication

Award Programs

Awards

The recipient of an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the screenplay Lady Sings the Blues, de Passe won two Emmy Awards and NAACP Image Awards as Executive Producer of Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and Motown Returns to the Apollo. De Passe served as Executive Producer for the highly acclaimed and multiple award winning, CBS western m\Mini-Series Lonesome Dove, that won both Golden Globe and Peabody Awards and was voted Outstanding Program of the Year by The Television Critics Association.

As Executive Producer of the benchmark NBC Mini-Series The Temptations, de Passe won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Mini-Series and was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award for Best Mini-Series. She also served as Executive Producer for Small Sacrifices, The Jacksons, An American Dream and Bufallo Girls, all of which were nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Mini-Series.[6]

A veteran of over three decades in Hollywood, generating over a billion dollars in revenue in the entertainment industry, and dividing her time and talent between Los Angeles and New York, de Passe has also received countless awards for her contributions to the television, movie and music industries including:

Recent community honors include:

Personal life

De Passe is married to Paul Le Mat. Her father is of Haitian and French descent while her mother is of Caribbean descent.[8]

Boards, trade associations and affiliations

Additionally, she has appeared as a speaker before numerous businesses and industry trade groups, including:

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.