Tom Cherones

Tom Cherones is a television producer and director, most known for helming much of the first five seasons of the monumentally successful sitcom "Seinfeld." Cherones got his start directing in 1986, with the comedy series "My Sister Sam," starring Pam Dawber, who had previously appeared with Robin Williams on the '79 sitcom "Mork & Mindy." It was in the '90 that Cherones landed his career-making gig, directing the first episode of "Seinfeld," which aired in the spring of that year. The show followed comedian Jerry Seinfeld essentially playing himself, a bachelor on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The series brought an irreverence to sitcoms not seen before, and Cherones directed dozens of episodes to great acclaim, earning five Emmy nominations and one win, for Outstanding Comedy Series. After "Seinfeld," Cherones directed several episodes over the first two seasons of Ellen DeGeneres's sitcom, "Ellen," and later contributed heavily to the workplace comedy "NewsRadio," which starred Dave Foley of "Kids in the Hall" fame. Later, Cherones essentially left the directing circuit, though he did helm a 2006 episode of the popular primetime soap "Desperate Housewives." Tom Cherones died on January 5, 2026 in Florence, OR at the age of 86.