Arvin Brown

L.A. native Arvin Brown has earned respect for his directing work both in theater and on television. He started his career working primarily on stage plays, his first being a revival of the comedy "Hay Fever." He hit a hot streak in the mid-'70s, earning two straight Tony nominations for his direction of the black comedy "The National Health" and the more straightforward comedy "Ah, Wilderness." With that stage success under his belt, Brown took his first (and, as it turned out, only) step into motion pictures, directing the 1976 horror-thriller "Diary of the Dead." After that particular film failed to find much of an audience, Brown (perhaps in response to that disappointment) spent the majority of the 1980s working back in the theater. In 1994, he turned his focus toward television, first directing an episode of the Golden Globe-winning drama "Party of Five," followed by episodes of the acclaimed drama "Picket Fences," the popular teen drama "Dawson's Creek," and the mystery-romance "Roswell." Most of those stints were of the single-episode variety, but as his TV resume grew, Brown was able to land multiple episodes on an eclectic array of programs, including the quirky fantasy-comedy "Ally McBeal" and the drama "Everwood." But as he proved in the 2000s, Brown's niche turned out to be crime-drama: He went on to helm several episodes for shows like "The Practice," "The Closer," and "Leverage."