Hiro Murai | Executive Producer | The Bear on FX

Hiro Murai is an Emmy®-nominated filmmaker behind some of today’s most innovative and culturally renowned projects. Most recently, Murai directed HBO Max's new post-apocalyptic series Station Eleven, for which he received a DGA Award nomination. Murai serves as executive producer/director of the breakaway FX series Atlanta, which was created by and stars Donald Glover. He directed seven episodes of the Atlanta Robbin’ Season, including the critically acclaimed sixth episode “Teddy Perkins.” That episode, which has been proclaimed as one of 2018’s best TV episodes of the year, garnered Murai a Primetime Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.” Robbin’ Season also went on to win three Primetime Emmys with an additional eleven nominations. Atlanta’s first season garnered Murai a PGA Award for “Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy” and went on to win multiple awards including two Emmys for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series” and “Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series” and two Golden Globes® for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy” and “Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.” 

Coming off the success of Atlanta, Murai has directed episodes of Snowfall (FX), Legion (FX) and Barry (HBO). He most recently directed and premiered the Donald Glover and Rihanna short film Guava Island and directed the first two episodes of the second season of Barry. He is in various stages of development on several anticipated projects including his feature directorial debut, Man Alive, for 20th Century Fox. The sci-fi thriller covers the events following the invasion of earth by an alien species, when a man faced with isolation and loneliness in order to survive realizes he might not be alone after all.  

Previously, Murai directed the culturally groundbreaking music video for Childish Gambino’s worldwide hit “This Is America,” garnering him the “Best Direction” award at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. Upon its release, the video went viral with over 65 million views in its first week. He also executive produced and directed the Amazon pilot Sea Oak, created by acclaimed author George Saunders and starring Glenn Close. In 2013, he directed the short film Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, which was co-written by and stars Donald Glover.

Murai has garnered multiple MTV VMA nominations for works including Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar's “Never Catch Me” and Childish Gambino’s “3005.” In 2014, he won the “Director of the Year Award” at the UK MVAs. Murai has directed music videos for Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, A Tribe Called Quest, Spoon, The Shins, St. Vincent, Queens of the Stone Age, Chet Faker and many more. His commercial works include spots for Nike, Corona, Lincoln, Microsoft, Google, Sonos and Gillette. 

Murai was born in Tokyo, but is based out of Los Angeles.