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Kenny Ortega

Highest Rated: 90% Descendants (2015)

Lowest Rated: 29% The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)

Birthday: Apr 18, 1950

Birthplace: Palo Alto, California, USA

Former music video choreographer and director Kenny Ortega in the 1990s and 2000s made himself the most celebrated choreographer and helmsman of filmed and live musical stage shows in America, choreographing some of most famous dance scenes in film, producing live sports-ceremony extravaganzas and stewarding one of most phenomenal musical drama franchises in history. Ortega arrived on the American film scene portentously working with Gene Kelly on his final feature film, the camp classic "Xanadu" (1980), and went on to create the smoldering dance scenes in "Dirty Dancing," direct Disney features and episodic TV, produce Super Bowl halftimes and Olympic ceremonies, and partner with Michael Jackson on his envelope-pushing stage shows. In 2006, he produced and directed The Disney Channel's ballyhooed "High School Musical" (2006), whose two sequels would set home-video and even box-office sales records. In the summer of 2009, he was working again with Jackson on his much anticipated "This Is It" comeback tour when the singer died suddenly, after which Ortega produced and directed "This Is It" (2009), a documentary made from the footage of their tour preparations. A creative link between the experimental rock stage shows of the 1970s and the dazzling multimedia entertainments of arena rock; of entertainment and sports; of classic Hollywood musicals and early 21st Century teen culture, Ortega arguably became one of the most influential pop culture purveyors in show business. Throughout, Ortega became synonymous with music on television, directing episodes of music- and dance-oriented series like "Bunheads" (ABC Family 2012-13) and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (CW 2015- ) as well as special events like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again" (Fox 2016).

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Highest rated movies

90% 68% Descendants
Watchlist
83% 72% High School Musical 2 Watchlist 83% 70% Disney's Descendants 2 Watchlist
81% 82% Michael Jackson's This Is It
Watchlist
78% 66% Descendants 3
Watchlist
70% 70% Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Watchlist
67% 74% High School Musical
Watchlist
64% 72% High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Watchlist
57% 61% The Cheetah Girls 2
Watchlist
41% 72% Hocus Pocus Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Step Into...The Movies With Derek and Julianne Hough Self - 2022
78% 66% Descendants 3 Director,
Executive Producer
- 2019
83% 70% Disney's Descendants 2 Director,
Executive Producer
- 2017
29% 25% The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again Director - 2016
90% 68% Descendants Director - 2015
No Score Yet 20% Dinocroc vs. Supergator Art Director - 2010
81% 82% Michael Jackson's This Is It Self,
Director,
Producer
$71.8M 2009
64% 72% High School Musical 3: Senior Year Director,
Executive Producer
$90.6M 2008
70% 70% Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Producer $65.3M 2008
83% 72% High School Musical 2 Director - 2007
57% 61% The Cheetah Girls 2 Director - 2006
67% 74% High School Musical Director - 2006
41% 72% Hocus Pocus Director $1.7M 1993
39% 88% Newsies Director $2.7M 1992

TV

Credit
93% 98% Julie and the Phantoms Executive Producer 2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet Celebrity Family Feud Guest 2019
No Score Yet 12% The View Guest 2017
98% 84% Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Director 2016
No Score Yet 58% So You Think You Can Dance Judge 2013
100% 94% Bunheads Director 2012
No Score Yet No Score Yet High School Musical: Get in the Picture Unknown (Guest Star) 2008
No Score Yet 88% Gilmore Girls Director 2002-2006
No Score Yet No Score Yet Chicago Hope Unknown (Guest Star),
Director
1998-1999