Gary Halvorson

Although his career in show business would have him ending up behind the camera, Gary Halvorson grew up wanting to be a performer. Music was his initial passion, and Halvorson even trained as a classical pianist at New York's prestigious Juilliard School. By the early 1980s, however, he found himself increasingly drawn to the director's chair, and before long began directing the made-for-TV-movies "Jules Feiffer's Hold Me" (1981), "The Country Girl" (1982), and "Kids Incorporated" (1984). By the latter half of the decade, Halvorson was well into a stable career as a television director. However, his lifelong love of music always kept him close to it. For this reason Halvorson helmed a number of concert specials throughout his career, including "Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues" (1987) and "The Glenn Miller Band Reunion" (1989), as well several live simulcasts of performances at the New York Metropolitan Opera. By the mid-'90s Halvorson started directing TV sitcoms as well, including several episodes of "Roseanne" (ABC 1988-1997) and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" (ABC 1996-2000, The WB, 2000-03), before he was asked to direct an episode of NBC's massively popular New York-centric comedy, "Friends." Halvorson would go on to direct 55 episodes of the show over the next several years, making him one of the most consistent helmers throughout its 10-season run. Sitcoms proved to be a good fit for Halvorson and over the next two decades he directed episodes of some of the TV's most popular comedies, including "Two and a Half Men" (CBS 2003-15), "Everybody Loves Raymond," and "Rules of Engagement" (CBS 2007-2013).