---
name: "Matthew Weiner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/matthew-weiner"
fi1m_id: "matthew-weiner"
imdb_id: "nm1980806"
tmdb_id: 1187819
wikidata_id: "Q924283"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "29 June 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T15:40:30.676529+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."
---

# Matthew Weiner

## Identity

Matthew Weiner

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/matthew-weiner
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** matthew-weiner
- **IMDb ID:** nm1980806
- **TMDB ID:** 1187819
- **Wikidata ID:** Q924283
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Weiner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q924283, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1980806/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1187819

Director and writer. Born 29 June 1965 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 29 June 1965, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- **Active:** 1999–2013
- **Also known as:** Matthew Hoffman Weiner
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 2 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Phil Abraham](https://film.one/person/phil-abraham.md), [Alan Taylor](https://film.one/person/alan-taylor.md), [Daisy von Scherler Mayer](https://film.one/person/daisy-von-scherler-mayer.md), [Heather Jeng Bladt](https://film.one/person/heather-jeng-bladt.md), [Jennifer Getzinger](https://film.one/person/jennifer-getzinger.md), [Matthew Penn](https://film.one/person/matthew-penn.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 5 Emmys (5 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 94 (1), 2000s 88 (1), 2010s 79 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Weiner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q924283, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1980806/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1187819

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Sopranos*](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md) (94)
- **AMC+:** [*Mad Men*](https://film.one/tv/mad-men.md) (88)
- **Netflix:** [*Orange Is the New Black*](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md) (79)

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

## Fi1m on Matthew Weiner

> Matthew Weiner's best work gives selfish people time to make a persuasive case for themselves. *Mad Men* earns our admiration through patience and wit, though its treatment of the past can become smug.

A cruel remark in *Mad Men* (2007) can sound so much like ordinary office conversation that the laugh comes before the objection. We laughed at that casual cruelty, then felt uncomfortable about having laughed. Weiner and his fellow writers allow people to explain their selfishness without asking us to accept the explanation. This is excellent television because the characters remain interesting even when their excuses do not stand up. The careful 1960s New York advertising setting matters, but the pleasure is in listening to somebody make bad conduct sound sensible.

Weiner's beginnings in sitcoms make sense when we hear how carefully those jokes are placed. He wrote the *Mad Men* pilot while working on *Becker*, then joined the writing staff of *The Sopranos* (1999) for its final seasons under David Chase. We recommend that series without hesitation, but our admiration for it is not a reason to give Weiner credit for the whole. His account of developing separate character stories and looking for their intersections helps explain the patience of *Mad Men*. Its seven seasons give those overlapping stories room to develop, rather than requiring every character's difficulties to be settled within an episode.

There are times when the writing makes our judgement too easy. *Mad Men* occasionally presents the prejudices of its period as an opportunity for us to feel pleased with ourselves. We find it less persuasive when recognising an ugly attitude seems to be enough; the performances usually make the offending character harder to dismiss than that. Semi Chellas was among the programme's writers, and any account of Weiner's achievement needs to leave room for those colleagues and for the cast.

His first feature, *Are You Here* (2013), concerns male friendship and self-knowledge, but its wandering story and uncertain comic tone make it a less convincing place to begin. *The Romanoffs* (2018) moved to an anthology format, with Chellas again among his writing collaborators. That is a different test for a writer-director whose strength is following the same people across several seasons. Start with *Mad Men*, and allow it more than a single evening.

## Biography

Matthew Hoffman Weiner is an American television writer, producer and director. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he studied at Wesleyan University and earned an MFA from the University of Southern California. He began his career writing for sitcoms including *Becker* (1998–2004) and *Andy Richter Controls the Universe* (2002–2003).

Weiner wrote the pilot for *Mad Men* as a spec script while working on *Becker*. It led to his hiring on *The Sopranos*, where he served as a writer and producer on the final three seasons (2004–2007). He subsequently created, wrote and directed *Mad Men* (2007–2015) for AMC, serving as showrunner throughout its seven seasons.

Weiner later wrote, directed and produced the feature film *Are You Here* (2013) and created the anthology series *The Romanoffs* (2018). He has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, including two for *The Sopranos* and seven for *Mad Men*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, web.archive.org.*

## On Fi1m (3)

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

- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), Fi1m 79, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *Mad Men* (2007), Fi1m 88, Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/mad-men.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *The Sopranos* (1999), Fi1m 94, Writer, Executive Producer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)

## Complete filmography (18)

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

- *FEEL* (2025), as Sitter 19
- *The Violet Hour* (2018), Writer, Director
- *The Romanoffs* (2018), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Goliath* (2016), series, as Matthew
- *Are You Here* (2013), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), series, Director — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *Mad Men* (2007), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/mad-men.md)
- *In-Laws* (2002), series, Writer
- *Andy Richter Controls the Universe* (2002), series, Writer
- *The Sopranos* (1999), series, Writer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)
- *Becker* (1998), series, Writer
- *Living in Captivity* (1998), series, Writer
- *Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea* (1997), Associate Producer
- *What Do You Do All Day?* (1996), as Matt · Director
- *The Naked Truth* (1995), series, Writer
- *Name of the Game, Sports Tales and Tunes* (1994), Writer
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Businessman (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Margret and Stevie*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Matthew Weiner](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-ae4de3370aec.jpg) Matthew Weiner — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Matthew_Weiner_2011_Shankbone.JPG/1280px-Matthew_Weiner_2011_Shankbone.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-f5192822320d.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Mad_Men_%288182680379%29.jpg/1280px-Mad_Men_%288182680379%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-a2b2e037cbee.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Mad_Men_%288182683863%29.jpg/1280px-Mad_Men_%288182683863%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-e11a234d0212.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and V (2008) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Mad_Men_%288182685625%29.jpg/1280px-Mad_Men_%288182685625%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and Vincent Karthesie (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-60a494fefe50.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and Vincent Karthesie (2008) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Mad_Men_%288182689449%29.jpg/1280px-Mad_Men_%288182689449%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and Vincent Karthesie (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/60930/gallery-ca46c8f34b27.jpg) PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Weiner, January Jones and Vincent Karthesie (2008) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Mad_Men_%288182691103%29.jpg/1280px-Mad_Men_%288182691103%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 5 won

- 2010: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *Mad Men*
- 2009: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *Mad Men*
- 2008: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *Mad Men*
- 2007: Outstanding Drama Series (won), for *The Sopranos*
- 2004: Outstanding Drama Series (won), for *The Sopranos*

*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/matthew-weiner