Michael Bonfiglio

Michael Bonfiglio is an Emmy-winning director, producer, writer, and camera operator.

Bonfiglio’s acclaimed film MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS, a collaboration with Judd Apatow, premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival where it won the 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award. The film was one of the year’s highest-grossing documentaries, and made its television debut on HBO.

Bonfiglio and Apatow also co-directed 2016’s Emmy-nominated DOC & DARRYL for ESPN’s landmark 30 FOR 30 series, about the tumultuous lives of baseball players Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. Bonfiglio’s previous 30 for 30 directorial effort, YOU DON’T KNOW BO: THE LEGEND OF BO JACKSON, remains the highest-rated documentary in ESPN history.

Bonfiglio directed David Letterman’s Emmy-nominated Netflix series, MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION. The critically-lauded series marked Letterman’s return to television following his retirement, and launched with President Barack Obama’s first major television interview since leaving office.

In 2017, Bonfiglio directed JERRY BEFORE SEINFELD for Netflix, the legendary comedian’s first stand-up special in more than a decade. The innovative special combined stand-up with scripted and unscripted vignettes about Seinfeld’s early life and career, garnering Bonfiglio a Primetime Emmy nomination for his work.

Bonfiglio recently received a Primetime Emmy for his role as co-executive producer of Apatow’s acclaimed film THE ZEN DIARIES OF GARRY SHANDLING, which received two additional Emmy nominations.

Bonfiglio is also the director of FROM THE ASHES, a collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies about the U.S. coal industry, which premiered at the 2017 TriBeCa Film Festival and aired globally on National Geographic. PARIS TO PITTSBURGH, another collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies and National Geographic which Bonfiglio co-directed with Sidney Beaumont, will be released in December of 2018. Bonfiglio was a director and co-producer of the Emmy-nominated series OPRAH’S MASTER CLASS, directing 30 episodes of the series over five seasons. Additional directing credits include 9 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF ED SHEERAN, an intimate portrait of the British singer-songwriter on the eve of completing his smash album X; the five-part series VISIONARIES: INSIDE THE CREATIVE MIND for OWN, the Sundance Channel series ICONOCLASTS, and the MTV special SUMMIT ON THE SUMMIT.

Producing and other credits include the Oscar-nominated PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY, PARADISE LOST 2: REVELATIONS, CRUDE, GRAY MATTER, and the Emmy-winning 10 DAYS THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED AMERICA.