Leslie D. Farrell

Emmy-, Peabody-, and two-time duPont-Columbia Award-winning producer/director/writer Leslie D. Farrell has been making documentaries for more than 20 years. She served as Series Producer and Producer/Director of Episode 3 of AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, a four-hour documentary series tracing Black history through genealogy and DNA science. The series, hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and featuring Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and Whoopi Goldberg, aired nationally on PBS and was hailed by The New York Times as “the most exciting and stirring documentary on any subject to appear on television in a long time … exquisitely produced and brilliantly conceived.” Farrell is also known for documentaries she created for HBO, SPORTS ON THE SILVER SCREEN and JOURNEY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETE, both highly successful award-winning films. She began her career at Blackside, Inc. in Boston, where she directed, wrote, and produced BROTHER’S KEEPER as part of the acclaimed national PBS series AMERICA’S WAR ON POVERTY. In subsequent years, she continued making films for PBS, including THE CHALLENGE OF FREEDON, which aired nationally as part of WNET’s landmark series SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA. Farrell’s work has also been seen on BRAVO, The History Channel, MTV, BET, NBC, and other national outlets.