Cast & creator
Ken Burns
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Ken Burns (born 1953) is a highly celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, periodicals and ordinary people's correspondence, the latter often movingly read by seasoned professional actors in a deliberate attempt to get away from a "Great Man" approach to history. Like most non-fiction filmmakers, Burns wears many hats on his projects, often serving as writer, cinematographer, editor and music director in addition to producing and directing. He achieved his apotheosis with The Civil War (1990), a phenomenally popular 11-hour documentary that won two Emmys and broke all previous ratings records for public TV. The series' companion coffee table book--priced at a hefty $50--sold more than 700,000 copies. The audio version, narrated by Burns, was also a major best-seller. In the final accounting, "The Civil War" became the first documentary to gross over $100 million. Not surprisingly, it has become perennial fund-raising programming for public TV stations around the country. Burns arrived upon the scene with the Oscar-nominated Brooklyn Bridge (1981), a nostalgic chronicle of the construction of the fabled edifice. The film was more widely seen when rebroadcast on PBS the following year. Though Burns has made other nonfiction films for theatrical release, notably an acclaimed and ambiguous portrait of Depression-era Louisiana governor Huey Long (1985), PBS would prove to be his true home. He cast a probing eye on such American subjects as The Statue of Liberty (1985), The Congress (1988) (PBS), painter Thomas Hart Benton (1988) (PBS) and early radio with Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) (PBS). Burns returned to long-form documentary with his most ambitious project to date, an 18-hour history of Baseball (1994), which aired on PBS in the fall of 1994. He approached the national pastime as a template for understanding changes in modern American society. Ironically, this was the only baseball on the air at the time, as the players and owners were embroiled in a bitter strike.
61
film credits
106
television credits
41
1952–2026 · acting roles
7.3
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (167)
Showing 167 of 167 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self - Guest
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self - Guest
2015The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Simpsons
Ken Burns (voice)
1989
The Daily Show
Self
1996
Late Show with David Letterman
Self - Guest
1993
The View
Self
1997
The Colbert Report
Self
2005The Colbert Report
Self (uncredited)
2005
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
1993
Interstellar
Thanks
2014
60 Minutes
Self
1968
The Mindy Project
Ken Burns
2012The Tony Danza Show
Self
2004
Face the Nation
Self
1954
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
Self
2018
Finding Your Roots
Self
2012
Today
Self
1952
Difficult People
Ken Burns
2015
Henry David Thoreau
Director
2026Henry David Thoreau
Writer
2026Henry David Thoreau
Producer
2026Henry David Thoreau
Creator
2026
CNN Special Report
Self
1980
Baseball
Director
1994Baseball
Producer
1994Baseball
Executive Producer
1994Baseball
Writer
1994Baseball
Director of Photography
1994
The Problem with Jon Stewart
Self
2021
The Civil War
Director
1990The Civil War
Writer
1990The Civil War
Executive Producer
1990The Civil War
Director of Photography
1990
This Week
1981
The American Revolution
Producer
2025The American Revolution
Director
2025The American Revolution
Creator
2025
The Vietnam War
Producer
2017The Vietnam War
Director
2017The Vietnam War
Executive Producer
2017
The Dust Bowl
Director
2012The Dust Bowl
Producer
2012
The War
Executive Producer
2007The War
Director
2007
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Producer
2009The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Director
2009
Prohibition
Executive Producer
2011Prohibition
Producer
2011Prohibition
Director
2011Prohibition
Creator
2011
The West
Executive Producer
1996
MLB: Baseball's Seasons
Self - Filmmaker
2009
Jazz
Director
2001Jazz
Producer
2001
Craft in America
Himself
2007
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Producer
2022The U.S. and the Holocaust
Director
2022The U.S. and the Holocaust
Creator
2022
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Director
2014The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Writer
2014The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
Creator
2014
The American Buffalo
Director
2023The American Buffalo
Producer
2023The American Buffalo
Executive Producer
2023
Country Music
Director
2019Country Music
Executive Producer
2019
Hemingway
Director
2021Hemingway
Producer
2021
Leonardo da Vinci
Director
2024Leonardo da Vinci
Executive Producer
2024Leonardo da Vinci
Creator
2024Leonardo da Vinci
Creator
2024
In the Know
Self
2024
Muhammad Ali
Executive Producer
2021Muhammad Ali
Director
2021Muhammad Ali
Writer
2021
Benjamin Franklin
Director
2022Benjamin Franklin
Producer
2022
Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
Producer
1999Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
Director
1999
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Director
1997Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Producer
1997
The Statue of Liberty
Director
1985The Statue of Liberty
Cinematography
1985The Statue of Liberty
Producer
1985
Back on the Record with Bob Costas
Self
2021
Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies
Producer
2015
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Writer
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Producer
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director of Photography
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Executive Producer
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Creator
2010
The Gene: An Intimate History
Producer
2020
Mark Twain
Director
2002
Thomas Jefferson
Director
1997Thomas Jefferson
Creator
1997
Jackie Robinson
Director
2016
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Director
2005Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Producer
2005
College Behind Bars
Executive Producer
2019
Mark Twain
Director
2002Mark Twain
Producer
2002Mark Twain
Director of Photography
2002
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Director
2004
Crime and Punishment in America
Executive Producer
2026
Very Ralph
Self
2019The Tim McCarver Show
2005
Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation
Self
2000
The Mayo Clinic
Director
2018The Mayo Clinic
Writer
2018The Mayo Clinic
Executive Producer
2018
The Central Park Five
Director
2012The Central Park Five
Writer
2012The Central Park Five
Producer
2012
Brooklyn Bridge
Director
1981Brooklyn Bridge
Director of Photography
1981Brooklyn Bridge
Cinematography
1981
The Congress
Director
1989
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
Director
2016Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
Executive Producer
2016
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
Director
2003
Lindbergh
Producer
1990Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
Self - Director and Producer
2019Henry David Thoreau
Producer
2026
Frank Lloyd Wright
Director
1998Frank Lloyd Wright
Producer
1998
Walden
Executive Producer
2017
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Writer
2010Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Director
2010
Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
Executive Producer
2022
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Producer
1991Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Director
1991Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Executive Producer
1991Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Music Director
1991Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Director of Photography
1991
Huey Long
Director
1985Huey Long
Producer
1985
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
Self
2012
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Director
1984The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Producer
1984The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God
Cinematography
1984
East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
Producer
2020East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story
Executive Producer
2020
Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Narrator (Voice)
2013Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Director
2013Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Executive Producer
2013Yosemite — A Gathering of Spirit
Cinematography
2013
Ken Burns: One Nation, Many Stories
2024
The Unmaking of a College
Self
2022
A Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939
2010
Wordplay
Self
2006
Spirit of Golf
Self
2023
The Address
Director
2014
Here For A Good Time
Self
2020
Homecoming
Executive Producer
2023
Ken Burns: Here & There
Himself
2020
Thomas Hart Benton
Director
1989Thomas Hart Benton
Producer
1989
De la poussière et des hommes
Director
2021
After the Central Park Five
Director
2013After the Central Park Five
Writer
2013OETA's On the Record: Ken Burns
Self
2014
Seeing, Searching, Being: William Segal
Director
2010