Paris K. C. Barclay (born June 30, 1956) is an American television director, producer, and writer. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner and has directed nearly 200 episodes of television to date, for series such as NYPD Blue, ER, The West Wing, CSI, Lost, The Shield, House, Sons of Anarchy, In Treatment, Glee, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Watcher, and American Horror Story: NYC. He serves as an executive producer on many of the shows he directs. From 2013 to 2017, Barclay served two terms as the President of the Directors Guild of America.
Recent work of note includes the critically acclaimed documentary film Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It, about the life and career of musician Billy Preston.
With his ninth Emmy nomination for an episode of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2023, Barclay became the first Black director to be nominated by the Television Academy in every narrative dramatic category.
Early life and education Barclay was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Raised Catholic, he attended La Lumiere School, a private college preparatory boarding school in La Porte, Indiana. On scholarship, he was one of the first African-Americans to attend the school.
Barclay went on to study English at Harvard University, where he was active in student musical theatre productions and the a cappella singing group The Harvard Krokodiloes. During his four years there, he wrote 16 musicals, including the music for two of the annual Hasty Pudding shows. Barclay attended both the La Lumiere School and Harvard with John Roberts, now the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His Harvard roommate was novelist Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha.
Music video career Following his graduation from Harvard, Barclay worked as a copywriter and creative supervisor at Grey, BBDO, Cunningham & Walsh, and Marsteller. Hoping to create more opportunities for minorities, Barclay, along with Joel Hinman of the music video company Scorched Earth Productions, co-founded a production company called Black & White Television. There, he went on to direct music videos for artists such as Bob Dylan ("It's Unbelievable"), the New Kids On The Block ("Games"), as well as Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross ("The Best Things in Life Are Free"). Most notably, he created eight videos for LL Cool J, including "Mama Said Knock You Out", which won awards from both MTV and Billboard—and went on to be listed by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In 2013, Complex Magazine ranked "Mama Said Knock You Out" as one of the top 50 rap videos of the 1990s, crediting it with creating "one of the most crucial links in establishing the cultural bridge between boxing and rap." Barclay was often hired to direct music videos to promote films, introducing audiences to House Party (1990), White Men Can't Jump (1992), Mo' Money (1992), Posse (1993), and Cool Runnings (1993), among others.
In 2012, Barclay directed his first music video in 16 years, working once again with LL Cool J and R&B star Joe on the video for "Take It". Also drawing on his music video experience was Barclay's episode ("The Coup") of the Steven Spielberg-produced NBC series Smash, in which TV Fanatic said that the Barclay-directed number for the original song "Touch Me" (written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder) "pushed the boundaries from traditional Broadway show to music video level."
Film and television career
1990s Barclay began his career in television with an unaired episode of Angel Street in 1992. He was hired by John Wells, who was making his debut as an executive producer.
Barclay directed Shawn and Marlon Wayans' first feature film, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996) – also featuring Keenen Ivory Wayans, Vivica Fox, and Bernie Mac. It was a surprise box office hit that has since achieved cult status. Barclay also directed the HBO movie, The Cherokee Kid (1996), a Western dramedy starring Sinbad, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds.
After directing episodes of ER, Barclay directed and eventually became a producer of NYPD Blue. In three years there, Barclay would receive two Emmy Awards for best directing—the second of which was for the episode titled "Hearts and Souls"— featuring the death of Jimmy Smits' character Bobby Simone. The episode has been ranked one of TV Guides 100 Best Episodes of All Time. Barclay reteamed with Smits again in his role as "Nero Padilla" on Sons of Anarchy.
2000s In 2000, Barclay joined forces with fellow NYPD Blue producers Steven Bochco and Nicholas Wootton to create City of Angels, a medical drama with a predominantly African-American cast including Blair Underwood, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Maya Rudolph, and Vivica Fox. The show aired on CBS for two seasons while winning two NAACP awards.
In 2002 he returned to the John Wells fold to produce and direct a pilot, The Big Time, featuring Christina Hendricks, Dylan Baker, Molly Ringwald and Christopher Lloyd—which eventually aired as a two-hour movie. In the years that followed, Barclay worked on a wide variety of television dramas and comedies. He served as co-executive producer and producing director of the series Cold Case, for which he has also directed nine episodes. Other shows he directed in the decade include The West Wing, Huff, Law & Order, Numb3rs, Lost, House, The Shield, Weeds, Monk,The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, Sons of Anarchy, CSI, The Mentalist and 9 episodes of Glee.
2008 marked Barclay's return to HBO, where he executive produced three seasons of In Treatment, as well as directed 36 episodes. The series garnered a Golden Globes nomination for Best Drama Series in 2009 and series lead Gabriel Byrne won the Golden Globe for Best Television Actor in a Drama Series that same year. In 2008, the series won 2 Emmys for Glynn Turman for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series and Dianne Wiest won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Also in 2008, Barclay collaborated with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black to write the MTV film Pedro, the story of Pedro Zamora from The Real World: San Francisco. The film, directed by Nick Oceano, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and earned the Writers Guild, the Humanitas Prize, and GLAAD Media Awards nominations.
2010s In 2011, Barclay became the executive producer and primary director for the fourth season of FX's Sons of Anarchy, a role he continued through the seventh and final season.
In 2013, Barclay directed Glee episodes "Diva" and "Lights Out". earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for “Diva.”
In 2014, Barclay again directed Sons of Anarchys season premiere and penultimate episodes, along with Glee's milestone “100,” which brought his third Emmy nomination for Glee. During this period, he also directed episodes of The Good Wife, Steven Spielberg's Extant starring Halle Berry, the Tommy Schlamme/Sam Shaw period drama Manhattan, and Glee's emotional flashback episode "2009," the first half of the series finale.
In 2015, Barclay served as executive producer/director on FX’s The Bastard Executioner, created by Kurt Sutter and starring Stephen Moyer and Katey Sagal. At the end of the year, he directed an episode of FOX’s hit series Empire, the Television Critics Association’s program of the year.
In 2016, Barclay joined the Shondaland family by directing an episode of ABC's critically acclaimed show, Scandal, created/produced by Shonda Rhimes, starring Kerry Washington. In the fall, he went on to executive produce and direct the pilot for FOX’s Pitch, created by Dan Fogelman and Rick Singer. The series starred Kylie Bunbury Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mark Consuelos, and Barclay directed four episodes in total.
In 2017, Barclay executive produced and directed the pilot for another Shondaland drama, Station 19, a Grey's Anatomy spinoff centered on Seattle firefighters. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC and aired over 100 episodes.
In early 2019, Barclay reunited with his Pedro co-writer Dustin Lance Black to produce and direct the Americans for the Equality Act public awareness campaign for the Human Rights Campaign. The series, which launched on March 25, 2019 with a debut video featuring Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman, highlighted prominent figures in entertainment, sports and beyond speaking about the need for the Equality Act — a crucial civil rights bill that would extend clear, comprehensive non-discrimination protections to millions of LGBTQ people nationwide. The powerhouse lineup of supporters included Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita, Adam Rippon, Shea Diamond, Marcia Gay Harden, Alexandra Billings, Blossom Brown, Justina Machado, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Charlie and Max Carver, and Karamo Brown. The series was modeled after HRC's successful Americans for Marriage Equality campaign and was awarded at the 4th Annual Shorty Social Good awards. It ultimately helped lead to the act's passage in the House of Representatives.
2020s
In May 2021, Barclay directed a virtual reading of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, with Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope and Guillermo Diaz.
Also in 2021, after executive producing and directing 14 episodes of Station 19, Barclay directed two episodes of the Ryan Murphy Netflix series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The series surpassed 1 billion hours viewed on Netflix, one of the few shows in Netflix history to cross the 1 billion hour viewing mark within 60 days. Despite controversies surrounding Dahmer, Barclay’s work on Episode 6, "Silenced," received wide praise. For this episode, Barclay received a 2023 Emmy nomination for Best Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie. Barclay’s work on the series finale, "God of Forgiveness, God of Vengeance," was also nominated by the Hollywood Critics Association.
After Dahmer, Paris reteamed with Ryan Murphy, executive producing and directing two episodes of The Watcher, starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, which debuted as Netflix's #1 most-watched series. He followed this by directing two episodes each of Murphy’s American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the latter starring Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny. He then directed the pilot and executive produced ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson. The series drew 13.6 million cross-platform viewers in its first week, marking ABC’s best drama premiere in four years. Paris directed 6 of its 18 episodes.
In 2025, Paris directed two episodes of Season 3 of Shawn Ryan’s Netflix hit The Night Agent, followed by an episode of Brilliant Minds with Zachary Quinto. In 2026, he helmed episodes of Dan Fogelman’s The Land and two episodes of the final season of Paradise, starring Sterling K. Brown. Paris is currently in production on Netflix’s new series The Roman, starring Oscar Isaac and Alec Baldwin, from Billions creators Brian Koppleman and David Levien.
Billy Preston documentary
In 2024, Barclay directed the documentary Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It, about American keyboardist and singer Billy Preston. The film explores Preston’s life and musical legacy, including his early career as a child prodigy and his collaborations with artists such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
The film features interviews with Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Porter, and Olivia Harrison, among others, and began appearing at festivals in 2023 and 2024, premiering at the SXSW Film Festival and later screening at DOC NYC, where it began drawing early critical attention. Variety praised the film as “Amazing… eye-opening… I came out feeling like I finally knew him.” Rolling Stone called it an “unabashed, unapologetic joy” and “a portrait of a gifted musician who deserves to be remembered.”