Bob Giraldi

Bob Giraldi is an iconic director of TV commercials, music videos, short and feature films with a career spanning 50 years. A creative director at the legendary Y&R ad agency in NY, and caught up in the middle of the early advertising creative revolution, he spent over 10 years on Madison Avenue, earning the distinction of being named as one of "101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising."  In 2014, Giraldi was the first commercial director ever to be elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Giraldi has produced and directed over 4000 visual marketing and advertising pieces.  He has been inducted into the NY Art Director's Hall of Fame, one of the few film directors to be honored. His work resides in the permanent collection of Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in NYC. He directed one of the longest advertising campaigns in history: "Tastes Great, Less Filling" for Miller Lite.  He also directed the original Pepsi ad campaigns featuring Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

In 1995, Giraldi and his executive producer, Patti Greaney, created the original website, StarChefs.com, featuring celebrity chefs and cookbook authors.

Mr. Giraldi has been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts for over thirty years.  He is currently Chair of SVA's 'Masters in Directing' grad program. 

Working with music luminaries such as Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ricky Martin, Hall & Oates and Will Smith, he continued to win acclaim and define the future of the medium with music videos like "Beat It," "Say, Say, Say," "Love is a Battlefield," "Hello," "Running With the Night," and "Don't Drive Drunk," 

In addition to directing Jon Cryer's teen cult film, "Hiding Out" (1987), Bob Giraldi's feature film, "Dinner Rush" (2000), with Danny Aiello, John Corbett and Sandra Bernhard, appeared on a number of 2001's Top 10 Lists and was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films Series at MoMA.  This film clearly has influenced the many reality and fictional food shows that crowd TV and media today.  

His short film, "The Routine" premiered at Sundance and won Best Drama at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival in 2002.  His 2008 short film "Second Guessing Grandma" with Kathleen Chalfant, examining the coming out of a twenty-something to his 83 year-old grandmother, received the Jury Award for Short Narrative at the 27th Annual Chicago International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Short at the Fresno Reel Pride Festival, one of the largest US gender film festivals. It was also hand-selected to be in the new Google YouTube Screening Room, after it was the #3 most viewed video of the 2008 holiday season.  

Giraldi directed the short film; "A Poet Long Ago," (2014), based on a short story written by the legendary Pete Hamill and starring Steve Schirripa, and Boris McGiver.  "A Conversational Place" (2015), with Emmy winner Marilyn Sokol, "New Year's Eve @ Sunny's" (2016), "Superfriends" (2017), and "The Whisperer" (2018) are all currently making the rounds in several film festivals across the globe.