--- name: "Tom Cherones" canonical: "https://film.one/person/tom-cherones" fi1m_id: "tom-cherones" imdb_id: "nm0156013" tmdb_id: 1215063 wikidata_id: "Q7815268" roles: ["Director"] born: "11 September 1939" died: "5 January 2026" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 84 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-07T12:10:15.504705+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." --- # Tom Cherones ## Identity Tom Cherones - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tom-cherones - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** tom-cherones - **IMDb ID:** nm0156013 - **TMDB ID:** 1215063 - **Wikidata ID:** Q7815268 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cherones, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7815268, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0156013/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1215063 Director. Born 11 September 1939 in USA. Died 5 January 2026. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 11 September 1939, USA - **Died:** 5 January 2026 - **Active:** 1989–2004 - **Frequently works with:** [Jeff Melman](https://film.one/person/jeff-melman.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 90 (1), 2000s 78 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cherones, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7815268, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0156013/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1215063 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Seinfeld*](https://film.one/tv/seinfeld.md) (90) - **Disney+:** [*Desperate Housewives*](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Tom Cherones > Tom Cherones helped give *Seinfeld* the steady direction its complicated plotting needed. We rate his handling of several plots at once, and the ambition of his single-location episodes. A parking garage built on a soundstage gives Tom Cherones a problem before anyone has said a line. In *The Parking Garage* (1991), an episode of *Seinfeld*, making that setting work is part of the directing, alongside the business of getting laughs. Cherones was good at both, and his work deserves attention beyond the names on the scripts. We laughed at the selfish quartet in *Seinfeld* (1989) making so much of almost nothing. The careful plotting makes those petty concerns worth following. His first episode as a director was on *My Sister Sam* in 1986; he joined *Seinfeld* as director and producer in 1990. He directed 80 of its first 86 episodes, through the fifth season, helping establish its early visual style and tone. The series begins tentatively, but its plotting and ensemble acting make it an exceptional comedy. Cherones’s sustained involvement helped a demanding style of comedy become something the programme could deliver regularly. He pursued a more cinematic look within multicamera television, without losing his grip on several plots at once. Experiments such as *The Chinese Restaurant* also show a willingness to see how much a single location can sustain. With Larry David as writer and co-creator and Jerry Seinfeld as star and co-creator, there was no shortage of comic invention to accommodate. We would not give the director sole credit for what the quartet achieves, but making space for that ensemble is a substantial skill. After the fifth season, Jerry Seinfeld asked for a change of direction and Cherones left. He went on to direct most of *Ellen*’s second season in 1994 and worked on *NewsRadio* in 1996, directing more than fifty episodes of the latter. Those later assignments continued a career built around the practical demands of television comedy. Start with *The Parking Garage* before deciding that directing a sitcom is simply a matter of recording the jokes. ## Biography Tom Cherones was an American television director and producer. He directed and produced 81 of the first 86 episodes of *Seinfeld* across its first five seasons (1990–1994), including episodes such as "The Stake Out", "The Chinese Restaurant", "The Parking Garage" and "The Contest". He won a Directors Guild of America Award for the latter and shared a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Cherones graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in journalism and earned a master’s degree in broadcast and film communications from the University of Alabama. After service as a US Navy officer, he began his career in production before his first directing credit on *My Sister Sam* in 1986. He later directed numerous episodes of *NewsRadio* (56), *Ellen*, *Caroline in the City* and other series, and taught production classes at the University of Alabama from 2002 to 2014. Cherones died on 5 January 2026 in Florence, Oregon. *Sources: deadline.com, variety.com, hollywoodreporter.com, latimes.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Desperate Housewives* (2004), Fi1m 78, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md) - *Seinfeld* (1989), Fi1m 90, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/seinfeld.md) ## Complete filmography (20) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Reaper* (2007), series, Director - *Seinfeld: How It Began* (2004), Actor - *Desperate Housewives* (2004), series, Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/desperate-housewives.md) - *The Pitts* (2003), series, Director - *Oh, Grow Up* (1999), series, Director - *Ladies Man* (1999), series, Director - *Sabrina, the Teenage Witch* (1996), series, Director - *Men Behaving Badly* (1996), series, Director - *Boston Common* (1996), series, Director - *The Faculty* (1996), series, Director - *Caroline in the City* (1995), series, Director - *NewsRadio* (1995), series, Director - *Ellen* (1994), series, Director - *Seinfeld* (1989), series, Director on 'Jerry' Set, Man In Coffee Shop, Director, Producer — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/tv/seinfeld.md) - *Annie McGuire* (1988), series, Director - *Just in Time* (1988), series, Director - *The Silence at Bethany* (1988), Producer - *My Sister Sam* (1986), series, Director - *Maggie* (1981), series, Associate Producer - *Archie* (1976), Unit Manager --- © 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/tom-cherones