Taking Woodstock

Above the Line

« Back to Above the Line

Executive Producer

Celia D. Costas

Bio

Celia Costas won her first Emmy Award as producer of one of the most acclaimed miniseries of all time, Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols from Tony Kushner’s screenplay adaptations of his own Pulitzer Prize-winning plays. In addition to the Outstanding Miniseries Emmy, the project earned 11 other Emmys; 5 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, awarded to Ms. Costas as its producer; and 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, for lead actors Meryl Streep and Al Pacino, among other honors.

She reteamed with Mike Nichols as executive producer of the features Closer, for which Clive Owen and Natalie Portman won Golden Globe Awards and were Academy Award nominees, and Charlie Wilson’s War, for which Philip Seymour Hoffman was a Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee. She reteamed with Mr. Hoffman as executive producer of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, which received 5 Academy Award nominations and for which Meryl Streep won the Screen Actors Guild Award.

Ms. Costas won her second Emmy Award as executive producer of Joseph Sargent’s Warm Springs, written by Margaret Nagle, which starred Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. In addition to the Outstanding Made for Television Movie Emmy, the project earned 4 other Emmys.

Also for Mr. Sargent, she produced the telefilm For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, starring Andy Garcia, for which the real-life Mr. Sandoval won an Emmy Award for his score and for which she was an Emmy nominee; and coproduced the telefilm A Lesson Before Dying, starring Don Cheadle, which won 2 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Made for Television Movie.

Ms. Costas’ feature credits as co-producer include Betty Thomas’ Private Parts and 28 Days, and Ben Stiller’s Zoolander.

She began her career as a production assistant and location coordinator and then worked extensively as a unit production manager. Over a 12-year period, she was privileged to work in different capacities on 7 films for director/producer Alan J. Pakula; The Pelican Brief, Consenting Adults, Presumed Innocent, See You in the Morning, Orphans, Sophie’s Choice (with Academy Award winner Meryl Streep), and Rollover.

Executive Producer- Job Description

The credit given to someone who either contributes or raises the majority of finaces for a production or is responsible for creative input such as writing the screenplay.