Amy Sherman-Palladino Biography

Amy V. Sherman was born on January 17, 1966, in Los Angeles, California, USA, as the only child of her parents. Her father, Don Sherman, was a comedian, and her mother, Maybin Hewes, was a dancer. Sherman was the stage name of her father who was a Jew from the Bronx, while Amy’s mother was a Southern Baptist from Gulfport, Mississippi. Don died in May 2012; Amy dedicated the first episode of Bunheads to her father.

Amy started taking classical ballet lessons when she was just four years old and also learnt other dance forms in her teens. She got a call back to the sung-through musical Cats and also had a possible writing position offer for the comedy-drama sitcom Roseanne. She eventually chose a writing career over her dance career and joined the staff of Roseanne with her writing partner, Jennifer Heath.

In 1990, Amy contributed as a writer in a single episode of the sitcom City, aired on CBS. That same year, she joined the team of the American comedy-drama sitcom television series Roseanne as a staff writer during the third season of the show. She contributed as writer in 13 episodes of the show, of which the one that dealt about birth control earned an Emmy nomination.

In addition to this, she also served as the executive producer for 36 episodes of Roseanne. She departed from the show following its sixth season in 1994 and then worked for other programs, including the sitcoms Love and Marriage (1996), Over the Top (1997), and Veronica's Closet (1998–1999).

Amy got her real breakthrough with the comedy-drama television series Gilmore Girls that premiered on The WB on October 5, 2000 and became one of the flagship series of the network. She wrote 52 episodes of the show, directed 15 episodes, and also one of its executive producers.

The show Gilmore Girls, for which she gained widespread recognition, ran for seven seasons till May 15, 2007 - its first six seasons aired on The WB and the seventh and final one on The CW. Amy and her husband, Daniel Palladino, who also donned the hat of a writer, director, and executive producer of the show, left the show following its sixth season. It was announced on April 20, 2006, that the couple could not come to an agreement with The CW to continue their contracts.

Amy co-authored the 2002 book Gilmore Girls: The Other Side of Summer, along with Helen Pai, a well-known American television writer, director, and producer. The latter serves at Amy’s production company Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and also co-produced Gilmore Girls and later the TV series Bunheads. The recurring character of Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls was modeled by Amy loosely after Pai.

Amy later created the comedy-drama streaming miniseries Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, a four-episode revival, unofficial eighth season and a sequel of Gilmore Girls. The miniseries that included four 88- to 102-minute episodes was released on Netflix on November 25, 2016 and was later aired on The CW and on the American cable television network UP TV in November 2020.

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter made an announcement on August 1, 2006, that Fox Network had ordered from Amy a pilot of a new comedy project. Amy wrote, executive produced, and directed the pilot. She announced the name of her new sitcom as The Return of Jezebel James during the Hitmakers luncheon of Hollywood Radio & Television Society in December 2006.

The sitcom The Return of Jezebel James was created by Amy, executive produced by Amy and her husband, and was produced by Regency Television and Amy’s Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions. It premiered on March 14, 2008, on Fox television network, and because of the unacceptably poor ratings, the network cancelled the show after airing just three of its seven episodes. The remaining four episodes were later released on May 6, 2008, on Apple iTunes.

Her pilot Bunheads was picked up by ABC Family. Created by Amy and Lamar Damon and starring Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop as the leading ladies, the series premiered on June 11, 2012 and ran for a season till February 25, 2013. On July 22, 2013, ABC Family announced that the series would not be renewed for a second season. Amy contributed as a writer in eight episodes of the show. She garnered praise from the critics for her distinct writing style. Amy also directed five episodes of the show and remained one of its executive producers.

It was confirmed in June 2016 that Amazon had ordered from Amy an hour-long pilot titled The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She wrote and executive produced the pilot episode which was reported to premiere on March 17, 2017, as a part of Spring 2017 pilot season of Amazon Studios. The viewers were given the option to vote for the pilot to be ordered to series.

The pilot episode received critical acclaim, and the series was picked up by Amazon Studios. It received an “unprecedented” two-season order from Amazon on April 10, 2017. Amy serves as an executive producer of the critically acclaimed show along with her husband, Daniel, and also contributes as writer and director.

One of the most notable shows created by Amy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, starring Rachel Brosnahan, among others, has over the years received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2018. The pilot fetched Amy Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018. With this, she became the first woman to bag awards in the directing and comedy writing categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Amy was given the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television by the non-profit trade group the Producers Guild of America in 2019.

Amy is married to the award-winning television executive producer, director, and screenwriter Daniel Palladino with whom she has collaborated on several projects, including Gilmore Girls, Bunheads, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.