Glenn Weiss was born and raised in New York City. He was “bitten by the bug” while taking a television class in high school, which inspired him to pursue live television direction as a career. While attending the University of Maryland, he also worked as an intern at CNN. Weiss worked a variety of jobs at the network to learn the ins and outs of making live television and eventually began to direct. He collected more experience as a director in a Washington D.C. television station called WTTG, which would later be owned by Fox Television Studios. After working with Fox, Weiss gained his first DGA credit on the popular show Star Search.
Weiss’ credits in live television include America’s Most Wanted, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Gladiators 2000, Jane Pratt, The Barbara DeAngelis Show, The Apprentice, Survivor, and Legendary. Weiss has directed numerous live variety specials including America’s Millennium, BET Awards, Miss Teen USA Pageant, Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, The Democratic National Convention, Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, Live from Lincoln Center, and American Music Awards.
Weiss has been nominated by the DGA for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series for Peter Pan Live! and has won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Specials four times for directing the 89th Annual Academy Awards, and the 67th, 68th, and 70th Annual Tony Awards. In addition, he picked up DGA awards for Musical Variety for the 61st and 64th thru 68th Annual Tony Awards. He has also won 14 Emmys for his directorial work on the Academy Awards and Tony Awards.
Weiss has also served on the National Board and the Eastern Directors Council as a first alternate and alternate respectively from 2015-2017. He has been a member of the Directors Guild since 1994.