Dick Wolf

Dick Wolf

Date of Birth

Birthday: December 20
Birthplace: New York City, New York

Two-time Emmy-winning (and thirteen-time Emmy nominated) and Grammy-winning producer, and New York Times best-selling author Dick Wolf is one of television's most respected drama series creator/producers and the architect of one of the most successful brands in the history of television – Law & Order. He serves as creator and executive producer of all of the Law & Order- branded series from Wolf Films and Universal Television, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, renewed for its 18th season and now the fourth-longest running scripted filmed series in the history of television (behind Gunsmoke and Law

Two-time Emmy-winning (and thirteen-time Emmy nominated) and Grammy-winning producer, and New York Times best-selling author Dick Wolf is one of television's most respected drama series creator/producers and the architect of one of the most successful brands in the history of television – Law & Order. He serves as creator and executive producer of all of the Law & Order- branded series from Wolf Films and Universal Television, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, renewed for its 18th season and now the fourth-longest running scripted filmed series in the history of television (behind Gunsmoke and Law & Order). And Wolf has extended his branding expertise to the Windy City, with his three hit Chicago-based NBC series: Chicago Fire (season five); Chicago PD (season four) and Chicago Med (season two). NBC also recently announced Wolf's high profile scripted limited series Law & Order: True Crime based on the Menendez Brothers trial.

Wolf has also expanded into non-fiction with Wolf Reality, and is Executive Producer of the critically-acclaimed TNT reality series Cold Justice and spinoff Cold Justice: Sex Crimes. Other Wolf Reality projects include Nightwatch for A&E, Showtime's 3 AM and NBC's upcoming Law & Order: You the Jury.

Wolf Films also produced two award winning documentaries. Twin Towers, is the 2003 Academy Award-winning short documentary about two brothers, one a policeman and the other a fireman, who lost their lives in the line of duty on September 11. When You're Strange is the Emmy-nominated documentary about The Doors which also won a Grammy Award for Outstanding Longform Video in February 2011.

In 2007, Wolf executive produced the critically-acclaimed HBO original movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which won six Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie. The film tells the tragic and powerful story of the subjugation and cultural extermination of the Native American, and garnered a record 17 Emmy nominations, the most of the 2006-2007 television season. The film also received the prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critic's Choice Award for Best Picture Made for Television.

Wolf's debut novel, The Intercept, is a New York Times bestselling thriller about Jeremy Fisk, a new kind of hero for a new kind of enemy and his follow up book, The Execution debuted in January 2014 and, like its predecessor, was both popular and critically-acclaimed. The Ultimatum, the third installment of the series, was released in June 2015 from HarperCollins and has been receiving excellent reviews.

Wolf's Law & Order - branded series continue to rewrite the annals of television history. Law & Order, which ran a remarkable 20 seasons on NBC, is tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running drama series on television. It earned 11 consecutive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nominations – the record for most consecutive series Emmy nominations in the history of television (tied with Cheers and M*A*S*H) – and won the coveted Emmy in that category in 1997. Additional accolades Law & Order has garnered include: the highly-coveted Peabody Award; multiple Emmys; the Crystal Apple Award from the New York City's Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting; the Writer's Guild Award for Television and numerous other high ranking tributes.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been one of the network's top performers and is the longest-running current drama on television. Star Mariska Hargitay, who plays Detective Olivia Benson, has received seven Emmy nominations for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, winning in 2006, and the show has earned five Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Emmys. Law & Order: Criminal Intent completed its critically-acclaimed and successful 10-year run on NBC and USA Network in 2011, and other branded series include Law & Order: Los Angeles, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Crime & Punishment and Exiled: A Law & Order Movie.

Wolf has been a creative force in television for more than 25 years, with an illustrious career as a top advertising executive and continuing as one of television's most prolific producer/writers with such series as Conviction, L.A. Dragnet, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, New York Undercover, Arrest & Trial, South Beach, Feds and Players. Among his feature film credits is the screenplay for the hit Paramount release School Ties, writer and executive producer of Masquerade and writer and producer of No Man's Land.

His personal accolades include: the Television Academy Hall of Fame (inducted 2013); the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2002 Tribute from the Museum of Television and Radio (now the Paley Center for Media); the Producer's Guild of America's Norman Lear Showmanship Award; the DGA Honors; the Governor's Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; the 1997 Achievement Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors; the 1998 Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicist's Guild of America; the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival; and NATPE's 2007 Brandon Tartikoff Award. On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on Hollywood's world-famous Walk of Fame.

Wolf is also an Honorary Consul of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality's annual Monte Carlo Television Festival which is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year, and is its primary liaison with the entertainment community. He is also the founder (with Marcy Carsey) of the prestigious Carsey-Wolf Center for Media at the University of California, Santa Barbara and, with his wife Noelle, is a benefactor to numerous philanthropic endeavors including MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation, the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Princess Grace Foundation.

Dick Wolf was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2013.

Show more

Awards & Nominations

14 Nominations | 2 Emmys | 1 Honor
Hall of Fame - 2013
  • Winner
  • Dick Wolf, as Honoree
Outstanding Nonfiction Series - 2010
  • Nominee
  • Dick Wolf, Producer
  • American Masters
  • PBS
  • A Production of American Masters for THIRTEEN
Outstanding Made For Television Movie - 2007
Outstanding Drama Series - 2002
Outstanding Drama Series - 2001

The Television Academy database lists prime-time Emmy information. Click here to learn more

Bust of Dick Wolf
Noelle Wolf, Dick Wolf, and Jennifer Salke at the Television Academy’s 70th Anniversary Gala and Opening Celebration for its new Saban Media Center on June 2, 2016
Fill 1
Fill 1
Bust of Dick Wolf
Camera

Bust of Dick Wolf in the Hall of Fame Garden.

Noelle Wolf, Dick Wolf, and Jennifer Salke at the Television Academy’s 70th Anniversary Gala and Opening Celebration for its new Saban Media Center on June 2, 2016
Camera

Noelle Wolf, Dick Wolf, and Jennifer Salke at the Television Academy’s 70th Anniversary Gala and Opening Celebration for its new Saban Media Center on June 2, 2016

Invision/AP
Browser Requirements
The TelevisionAcademy.com sites look and perform best when using a modern browser.

We suggest you use the latest version of any of these browsers:

Chrome
Firefox
Safari


Visiting the site with Internet Explorer or other browsers may not provide the best viewing experience.

Close Window