Jonathan Murray

A pioneer in the reality television genre in America, Jonathan Murray (alongside his creative partner in Bunim/Murray Productions, the late Mary-Ellis Bunim) was the creator of the long-running and hugely popular docu-soap series "The Real World" (MTV 1992- ), which he co-executive produced. Among the pair's other well-known creations were the RV-set "The Real World" spin-off "Road Rules" (MTV 1995-2007), life coaching platform "Starting Over" (Syndicated 2003-06), the first reality television show to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, and the Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie-starring "The Simple Life" (Fox 2003-07).

A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Murray's early professional experiences were in local television, working for Wisconsin's WLUK, Atlanta, Georgia's WXIA, Cleveland's WKYC and Rochester, New York's WOKR in their news, documentary, programming and station management departments. He would use this range of experience in devising the concept for "The Real World" with Bunim, which was pitched over breakfast to MTV in 1991 and sold to the network by lunch that day. Despite the loss to cancer of its co-founder in 2004, Bunim/Murray Productions also executive produced the Beverly Hills reality dynasty "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" (E! 2007- ), and took over the production of the successful fashion design competition "Project Runway" with its 2009 move from Bravo to Lifetime; Murray also oversaw numerous spin-offs of both franchises. Building on its earlier successes, the company also launched a music management offshoot named M Music, whose first signings were the band A Cursive Memory, and the film division BMP Films, which released "Autism: The Musical" (2007), "Pedro" (2008) and "Shadow Billionaire" (2009).