---
name: "David Chase"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-chase"
fi1m_id: "david-chase"
imdb_id: "nm0153740"
tmdb_id: 99898
wikidata_id: "Q381982"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "22 August 1945"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 88
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T17:24:44.860404+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# David Chase

## Identity

David Chase

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/david-chase
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** david-chase
- **IMDb ID:** nm0153740
- **TMDB ID:** 99898
- **Wikidata ID:** Q381982
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chase, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q381982, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153740/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/99898

Director and producer. Born 22 August 1945 in Mount Vernon, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 22 August 1945, Mount Vernon, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1974–1999
- **Also known as:** 데이빗 체이스, دیوید چیس
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 2 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Andrew Schneider](https://film.one/person/andrew-schneider.md), [Diane Frolov](https://film.one/person/diane-frolov.md), [Jack Bender](https://film.one/person/jack-bender.md), [James Hayman](https://film.one/person/james-hayman.md), [John Patterson](https://film.one/person/john-patterson.md), [Lorraine Senna](https://film.one/person/lorraine-senna.md), [Mitchell Burgess](https://film.one/person/mitchell-burgess.md), [Robin Green](https://film.one/person/robin-green.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 3 Emmys (3 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 88, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 83 (1), 1990s 88 (2)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chase, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q381982, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153740/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/99898

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Sopranos*](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md) (94)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Rockford Files*](https://film.one/tv/the-rockford-files.md) (83)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on David Chase

> David Chase makes us listen to people whose excuses we ought to recognise, then gives us reasons to doubt them. We recommend *The Sopranos* without hesitation, though its patience with Tony can become excessive.

A gangster goes to therapy, and David Chase gives him time to explain himself. In *The Sopranos* (1999), Tony Soprano's anxiety is taken seriously without making his account of himself reliable. We were unsettled by how readily we listened to him, because James Gandolfini makes those excuses so persuasive. Chase finds humour in grievances we recognise, then asks us to keep watching a man we might prefer to dismiss.

His writing and producing work on *The Rockford Files* (1974) helped develop that attention to character. *Almost Grown* (1988–89) gave him a series of his own. *The Sopranos* began as a feature idea, but television gave Chase room to stay with these people far longer. He directed the pilot and finale as well as writing or co-writing many episodes. His writing collaborators include Terence Winter, Matthew Weiner, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, a reminder to resist giving one man credit for every good line.

Chase uses music, film references and dreams to get at thoughts his characters cannot explain in conversation. That gives *The Sopranos* more ways into Tony's mind than the therapy premise alone could offer. Individual episodes have enough shape to work on their own while carrying the longer story forward. Our reservation is that the programme sometimes attends too long to Tony's grievances, allowing complaints we already understand to occupy time they have not earned.

*Not Fade Away* (2012), his feature directing debut, takes family tensions and music into a story of young people in 1960s New Jersey. It is a useful reminder that his interests extend beyond organised crime, though *The Sopranos* remains the firm basis of our enthusiasm. On *The Many Saints of Newark* (2021), the prequel about Tony's youth, his roles were writer and producer, not director. Start with the series, even if a gangster in therapy sounds like the sort of joke that would soon wear thin.

## Biography

David Chase is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He created, wrote for and directed episodes of the HBO series *The Sopranos* (1999–2007), serving as showrunner and head writer.

Chase was born on 22 August 1945 in Mount Vernon, New York, and raised in New Jersey. He studied at New York University and received a master's degree in film from Stanford University. Earlier in his career he wrote and produced for series including *The Rockford Files* (1974) and *Northern Exposure* (1990). He also wrote the feature films *Not Fade Away* (2012), which he directed, and *The Many Saints of Newark* (2021).

Chase has won seven Primetime Emmy Awards.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, theguardian.com, tvinsider.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *The Sopranos* (1999), Fi1m 94, Director, Teleplay, Writer, Creator, Story, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)
- *Northern Exposure* (1990), Fi1m 82, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/northern-exposure.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *The Rockford Files* (1974), Fi1m 83, Writer, Producer, Story — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-rockford-files.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Outcome* (2026), Thanks
- *The Many Saints of Newark* (2021), as Ercole DiMeo (uncredited) · Characters, Writer, Producer
- *BoJack Horseman* (2014), series, as David Chase  (voice) — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/tv/bojack-horseman.md)
- *Not Fade Away* (2012), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies* (2008), Actor
- *HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect'* (2006), Actor
- *The Real Sopranos* (2006), Actor
- *The Sopranos* (1999), series, Writer, Director, Executive Producer, Story, Teleplay, Creator — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)
- *The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime* (1996), Director, Writer
- *The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.* (1994), Supervising Producer
- *Without Consent* (1994), Writer
- *I'll Fly Away* (1991), series, Writer, Director, Executive Producer
- *Northern Exposure* (1990), series, Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/northern-exposure.md)
- *Almost Grown* (1988), series, Creator
- *The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1985), series, Director, Writer
- *Moonlight* (1982), Writer, Executive Producer
- *Off the Minnesota Strip* (1980), Writer, Producer
- *Demon and the Mummy* (1976), Writer
- *The Rockford Files* (1974), series, Producer, Writer, Story — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-rockford-files.md)
- *Kolchak: The Night Stalker* (1974), series, Writer
- *The Magician* (1973), series, Writer
- *Grave of the Vampire* (1972), Screenplay
- *Winter Love* (1972), Production Manager
- *The Cut-Throats* (1969), First Assistant Director, Production Manager
- *Project: MKUltra*, series, Creator, Writer, Executive Producer
- *Untitled David Chase/Terence Winter Horror Project*, Director, Writer, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase, The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-7ca9833fe096.jpg) Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase, The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/David_Chase%2C_May_2000.jpg/1280px-David_Chase%2C_May_2000.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David Chase](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-04fbf4279626.jpg) David Chase — US Embassy Dublin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/David_Chase_2015.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase and Lorraine Bracco The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-1d391f4806e8.jpg) Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase and Lorraine Bracco The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/David_Chase_and_Lorraine_Bracco%2C_May_2000.jpg/1280px-David_Chase_and_Lorraine_Bracco%2C_May_2000.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photos by Patrick McMullan The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-3ad34174055a.jpg) Photos by Patrick McMullan The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/David_Chase_and_Sheila_Nevins_%2823245569759%29.jpg/1280px-David_Chase_and_Sheila_Nevins_%2823245569759%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David Chase](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-9e650aa60b2b.jpg) David Chase — Image via TMDB
- ![Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase and Tony Sirico, The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/60887/gallery-a424fa014ded.jpg) Photos by Patrick McMullan David Chase and Tony Sirico, The 59th Annual Peabody Awards The Waldorf=Astoria May 22, 2000 (2015) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/David_Chase_and_Tony_Sirico%2C_May_2000.jpg/1280px-David_Chase_and_Tony_Sirico%2C_May_2000.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 3 won

- 2007: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *The Sopranos*
- 2003: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *The Sopranos*
- 1999: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *The Sopranos*

### Other awards — 2 won

- New Jersey Hall of Fame 2023: New Jersey Hall of Fame (won)
- Edgar Awards 2005: Edgar Awards (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/david-chase