Early life

Burrows was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, the son of Ruth (Levinson) and Abe Burrows, a well-known composer, director and writer. James has one sister, Laurie Burrows Grad. When James was still a young child, his family moved to New York where James attended New York’s High School of Music & Arts. Burrows is a graduate of Oberlin College and the graduate program of the Yale School of Drama.

Career

Early career

After Yale, Burrows returned to California where he became employed as a dialogue coach on O.K. Crackerby!, a television series starring Burl Ives and created by Burrow's father, Abe. Burrows then took a job as an assistant stage manager on the play Holly Golightly, an adaptation of the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. The production was unsuccessful, but the job served as Burrows' introduction to its star, Mary Tyler Moore. Early on Burrows also worked for the road company of Cactus Flower and the Broadway production of Forty Carats.

Burrows continued working in theater as a stage manager and transitioned into directing plays. Burrows directed traveling plays and a production at a Jacksonville, Florida dinner theater.

Television director

While working in theater, Burrows wrote Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker seeking a job at their production company, MTM Enterprises. In 1974, Tinker hired Burrows as a director for MTM Enterprises where he directed episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Tinker asked director Jay Sandrich, known for his work directing The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls, to serve as a mentor to Burrows.

Burrows' style is best known for his comic timing, complex blocking for actors, and incorporating more sophisticated lighting in television studio shoots. He is also credited as being one of the first sitcom directors to increase the typical multi-camera television shoot from three to four cameras.

Cheers

Burrows co-created Cheers with brothers Glen and Les Charles. The Charles brothers were also former employees of MTM Enterprises and served as producers on the series Taxi where Burrows worked as in house director for 76 episodes. Burrows and the Charles brothers wanted to create a show where they could have more control. Cheers premiered on NBC on September 30, 1982. Although Cheers initially struggled in the ratings, the series became a hit, running 275 episodes over eleven seasons. Burrows directed all but 35 of those 275 episodes.

Other television series

Burrows has directed for many series, including:

• 1970s - Phyllis, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, Busting Loose, The Ted Knight Show, Taxi, The Associates
• 1980s - The Hogan Family, Dear John, Night Court
• 1990s - Wings, Frasier, Friends, NewsRadio, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Pearl, Dharma & Greg, Caroline in the City, Will & Grace, George and Leo
• 2000s - The Class, Courting Alex, Two and a Half Men, Back to You, The Big Bang Theory, Gary Unmarried, Hank
• 2010s - Romantically Challenged, Mike & Molly, Better with You, $#*! My Dad Says, 2 Broke Girls, Partners, The Millers, Sean Saves the World, Friends with Better Lives, Crowded

Burrows directed every episode of Will & Grace during its eight-year run. Additionally, by 2012 Burrows had directed over 50 pilots for television series.

Burrows has directed 1,000 episodes of television, a milestone he achieved in November 2015 with the NBC sitcom Crowded. To celebrate Burrows' achievement, NBC aired a special tribute on February 21, 2016, titled Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows featuring cast reunions from many of the series Burrows has directed such as Cheers, Taxi, Friends, Frasier, The Big Bang Theory, Will & Grace and Mike & Molly.

Other projects

In 1998, Burrows directed a Chicago-based production of the 1939 comedy "The Man Who Came to Dinner" starring John Mahoney.

In front of the camera

Burrows has had cameo appearances in several of the shows for which he has directed. Burrows served as the silhouette of the customer who knocks on the door in the final scene of Cheers. In the first season of Friends, Burrows appeared in the episode "The One with the Butt" as the director of the movie in which the character Joey Tribbiani is cast as Al Pacino's butt double. He also appears as a television director named Jimmy in the 2005 HBO series The Comeback. Burrows played himself on the series. An episode of Scrubs, "My Life in Four Cameras", had a character named Charles James in honor of Cheers creators Burrows and Glen and Les Charles.

Awards

Over the course of his career, Burrows has been nominated for fifteen Directors Guild of America awards, and for an Emmy Award every year between 1980 and 2005, excluding 1997. Burrows has won ten Emmy Awards and four Directors Guild of America Awards. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences celebrated Burrow's forty-year career by hosting a panel in his honor on October 7, 2013.

Personal life

Burrows is married to celebrity hairstylist Debbie Easton; the couple lives in Manhattan. Burrows was previously married to Linda Solomon. He is a father to three daughters and a stepdaughter.

Filmography

Acting

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Rhoda	Agent	Episode: "The Lady in Red" (S 1:Ep 5)
1975	Phyllis	Telephone Man	Episode: "Up for Grabs" (S 1:Ep 3)
1977	The Bob Newhart Show	Maintenance Man	Episode: " Halls of Hartley" (S 5:Ep 17)
1989	Cheers	Man Standing in the Bar	Uncredited Episode: "The Art of the Steal" (S 8:Ep 10)
1993		Man Who Knocks	Uncredited Episode: "One for the Road" (S 11:Ep 25)
1994	Friends	Director	Uncredited Episode: "The One with the Butt" (S 1:Ep 6)
2005	The Comeback	Himself	Recurring from 2005-14

Non acting

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	More Than Friends	Director	Comedy film
1982	Partners		Gay-themed buddy comedy film.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Director	4 episodes from 1974-76
1975	Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers		Episode: "From Russia with Lust: (S 1Ep 15)
	Fay		Episodes: "Not with My Husband You Don't" (S 1:Ep 6) "Lillian's Separation" (S 1:Ep 7)
	Phyllis		19 episodes from 1975-76
	The Bob Newhart Show		11 episodes from 1975-77
1976	The Tony Randall Show		4 episodes from 1976-77
	Laverne & Shirley		8 episodes from 1976-77
1977	Bumpers	Director	Short comedy made-for-TV-Movie
	Roosevelt and Truman
	Calling Doctor Storm, M. D.
	Busting Loose	Director	5 episodes
	Lou Grant		Episode: "Christmas" (S 1:Ep 13)
	We've Got Each Other		Episodes: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1) "The Long Vacation" (S 1:Ep 12)
	The Betty White Show		Episode: "John's Mother" (S 1:Ep 9)
	Rhoda		4 episodes from 1977-78
1978	The Plant Family	Director	Short comedy made-for-TV-Movie
	The Betty White Show	Director	Episode: "Play Misty for John" (S 1:Ep 13)
	Free Country		Episodes: "Citizenship" (S 1:Ep 3) "Special Delivery" (S 1:Ep 5)
	Taxi		75 episodes from 1978-82
1979	Butterflies	Director	Short comedy made-for-TV-Movie
	A New Kind of Family	Director	Episode: "I Do" (S 1:Ep 1-Pilot)
	The Associates		4 episodes from 1979-80
1980	The Stockard Channing Show		Episodes: "Life Begins at 30" (S 1:Ep 6) "Punt, Pass and Kick" (S 1:Ep 12)
	Good Time Harry		Episode: "The Wally Smith Story" (S 1:Ep 3)
1981	Every Stray Dog and Kid	Director	Short made-for-TV-Movie
	Best of the West	Director	3 episodes
1982	Cheers	Producer/executive producer/director	Co-Creator of series Producer from 1982-84 Executive producer from 1985-93 Directed 237 episodes from 1982-93
	Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever	Director	Made-for-TV-Movie
1984	Night Court	Director	Episode: "All You Need Is Love" (S 1"Ep 1-Pilot)
	At Your Service	Director	Made-for-TV-Movie
1985	Big Shots in America	Director	Made-for-TV-Movie
1986	Valerie	Director	Episode: "Old Enough" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot)
	All is Forgiven		Episodes: "On Air Commitment" (S 1"Ep 1-Pilot) "With Child" (S 1:Ep 2)
1987	The Tortellis	Executive producer	Short-lived comedy
		Director	Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	CBS Summer Playhouse	Director	Episode: "In the Lion's Den" (S 1:Ep 16)
1988	Channel 99	Director	Made-for-TV-Movie
	Dear John	Director	Episodes: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1) "Ralph's Curse" (S 1:Ep 2)
1989	Out on the Edge	Production manager	Made-for-TV-Movie
1990	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Director	Episode: "Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration" (S 34:Ep 15)
	The Marshall Chronicles	Director	Episodes: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1) "Night of the Chopped Liver" (S 1:Ep 3)
	Wings		Episode: "Legacy" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot)
	The Earth Day Special	Director	Cheers segment
	Down Home	Director	Episodes: "Pier Pressure" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot) "By the Book" (S 1:Ep 5)
	The Fanelli Boys		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
1991	Roc		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Pacific Station		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Flesh 'n' Blood		Episode: "Blood Is Thicker Than Arlo" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot)
1992	Flying Blind		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
1993	Café Americain		3 episodes
	Frasier		32 episodes from 1993-97
1994	Monty		Episode: "Here Comes the Son" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot)
	The Boys Are Back		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Madman of the People		Episodes: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1) "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Mad Boy" (S 1:Ep 3)
1995	The Preston Episodes		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Hudson Street		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Partners		10 episodes from 1995-96
	NewsRadio		7 episodes from 1995-96
1996	The Nerd	Director	Made-for-TV-Movie
	3rd Rock from the Sun	Director	Episodes: "Brains and Eggs" ( S 1:Ep -Pilot) "See Dick Run" (S 1:Ep 20)
	Pearl		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
	Men Behaving Badly		7 episodes from 1996-97
1997	Chicago Sons		Episode: "Pilot" (S 1:Ep 1)
1998	The Secret Lives of Men	Executive producer	Short-lived comedy
1999	Will & Grace		1999-06
2001	Tikiville		Made-for-TV-Movie
	Last Dance		Made-for-TV-Movie
2006	The Class		Short-lived comedy from 2006-07
2007	Back to You		Short lived comedy from 2007-08
2008	Gary Unmarried		Comedy from 2008-10
2010	Romantically Challenged		Short lived comedy
	Mike & Molly		From 2010-12
2013	The Millers		16 episodes from 2013-15
2016	Crowded		Short-lived comedy

[ Source: Wikipedia ]