---
name: "John Bowman"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-bowman"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "28 September 1957"
died: "28 December 2021"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:21:06.321122+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."
---

# John Bowman

Writer. Born 28 September 1957 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Died 28 December 2021.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 28 September 1957, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- **Died:** 28 December 2021

## Biography

John Bowman was an American television writer and producer. Born on 28 September 1957 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he died on 28 December 2021 in Santa Monica, California. After graduating from Harvard Business School he worked briefly at PepsiCo before turning to comedy writing.

He wrote for *Saturday Night Live* from 1988, sharing a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding writing in a variety or music programme in 1989. He later served as head writer on *In Living Color* and as showrunner and executive producer on *Murphy Brown*. He co-created the Fox sitcom *Martin* (1992) with Martin Lawrence and wrote episodes of *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air*.

Bowman also co-created *Cedric the Entertainer Presents* and *Frank TV*. He chaired the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee during the 2007–08 strike and later taught comedy writing at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, hollywoodreporter.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Murphy Brown* (1988), Fi1m 77, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/murphy-brown.md)

## Also known for

- *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air* (1990), Writer
- *Martin* (1992), Writer, Story

---
© 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/john-bowman