Biography
Veteran television director Michael Engler proved adept at both comedies and dramas for the small screen, earning Emmy nominations for "Sex and the City" (HBO, 1998-2004), "30 Rock" (NBC, 2006-2013) and "Downton Abbey" (PBS, 2010-15). A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Engler began his career in theater, and scored a significant hit with Richard Greenberg's zeitgeist drama "Eastern Standard," which he directed for the Seattle Repertory Theater in 1987 before following it to New York, where he directed its Broadway debut in 1988. The following year, he returned to Broadway with Larry Gelbart's Beltway satire "Mastergate" (1989), which led to his first directing assignment behind the camera when the play was adapted into a comic feature for Showtime in 1992. Engler continued to direct for the stage, most notably Paul Rudnick's 1991 comedy "I Hate Hamlet" and an award-winning production of Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" in 2003, but television soon encompassed much of his creative output. After making his episodic debut with the short-lived comedy "Bakersfield, P.D." (Fox, 1993-94) in 1993, he worked steadily for the major networks throughout the decade, helming single episodes of critical favorites like "My So-Called Life" (ABC, 1994-95) and "The West Wing" (NBC, 1999-2006) and multiple assignments for "Sisters" (NBC, 1991-96) and "Party of Five" (Fox, 1994-2000). In 1998, he added producer to his c.v. with the short-lived sitcom "Significant Others" (Fox, 1998) and performed similar duties for "Party of Five" and its spin-off series, "The Time of Your Life" (Fox, 1999-2001), among other dramas and comedies. Engler moved to cable in the new millennium, directing episodes of HBO's "Deadwood" (2004-2006), "Sex and the City" - which netted him his first Emmy and Directors Guild nominations - and "Six Feet Under" (2001-05) and "The Big C" (2010-13), for which he also served as executive producer. He would earn a second Emmy and DGA nod for a 2008 episode of "30 Rock" - one of 11 episodes he oversaw for the Tina Fey comedy series - and made his public television debut in 2014 with the first of four episodes he directed for PBS' blockbuster hit, "Downton Abbey." Engler would earn his third Emmy nomination for "Downton's" final episode in 2015, and while helming multiple episodes of such popular programs as "Empire" (Fox, 2015- ) and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (Netflix, 2015-2019), continued to collaborate with "Downton" creator Julian Fellowes. Engler directed Fellowes' 2018 feature "The Chaperone," which starred "Downton" vet Elizabeth McGovern, and replaced Brian Percival as director of the "Downton Abbey" feature film just days before the start of filming in late 2018. Shortly after completion of the film, Engler reteamed with Fellowes to direct the first episode of "The Gilded Age" (2019- ), a period drama for NBC.
