James Manos Jr.

A writer/producer who regularly puts an unorthodox spin on tried-and-true dramatic formulas, James Manos, Jr., broke onto the scene in 1993 with his production of the silly-titled yet vastly clever "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas-Cheerleader Murdering Mom," starring Holly Hunter and Beau Bridges. He moved up to an executive producer role for the historical space race drama "Apollo 11" and followed that with the Family Channel's "The Ditchdigger's Daughters," a racially themed look at an African-American father who pushes his daughters toward success in the prejudiced American south. In '99, he picked up the pen to write an Emmy-winning episode for the pop-culture phenomenon "The Sopranos." He also produced 12 episodes of that beloved HBO mob hit during its first season. From there he moved on to the incendiary Michael Chiklis cop drama "The Shield," on which he was a frequent consulting producer and two-time writer. He is the hands-on executive producer of Showtime's unconventional serial-killer thriller "Dexter" and, along with Jeff Lindsay, is one of the show's main contributing writers.