Angela Santomero
Santomero at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2024
Born
Angela Candace Santomero

(1968-04-26) April 26, 1968 (age 56)
The Bronx, New York
NationalityAmerican
Other namesAngela C. Santomero
OccupationTelevision producer
Known forCo-creator of Blue's Clues, creator of Super Why!, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Creative Galaxy etc
SpouseGreg Santomero
Children2
Websitewww.angelasclues.com

Angela C. Santomero (born April 26, 1968) is an American television executive producer and co-creator of the Nickelodeon children's television programs Blue's Clues, its spin-off Blue's Room, and its reboot Blue's Clues & You!, as well as the PBS children's shows Super Why!, & Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood the Amazon Studios series Creative Galaxy, Wishenpoof!, and the Netflix original series Charlie's Colorforms City.[1] Santomero has won a Peabody Award, a 2012 Emmy Award for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, two Television Critics Association Awards, and the 2018 World Screen's Kids Trendsetter Award. She has been nominated for more than twenty-five Emmy Awards and numerous Parents' Choice Gold and Silver Awards.

Early life and education

Santomero grew up in Harrington Park, New Jersey,[2] where she attended Harrington Park Public School[3] before attending and graduating from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in 1986.[4] She received her bachelor's degree from Catholic University, which later presented her with their Young Alumni Merit Award.[5] She earned a master's degree in child development and psychology, with a specialty in instructional technology and media,[6][7] from Columbia University. During graduate school, she was influenced by the research of Daniel R. Anderson, who studied the effects of television violence on children and later served as a researcher and consultant for Blue's Clues,[8] and "became fascinated with the idea that if television could have a powerful negative effect on kids, it could have an equally powerful positive effect on them..."[9] She was also influenced by Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and the researchers of Sesame Street.[10]

Career

Santomero worked as a researcher for Nickelodeon in the early 1990s,[10] when the network was looking to create a new television show for preschoolers. In 1994, Santomero, along with director Todd Kessler and animator Traci Paige Johnson (a group that Nickelodeon executive Brown Johnson called a "green creative team"[11]), created the "landmark"[6] series Blue's Clues. According to writer Diane Tracy, Santomero, Kessler, and Johnson did not possess traditional backgrounds of most producers of children's programs, but "did possess an amazing combination of talents, backgrounds, and personal attributes."[12] Santomero served as executive producer and head writer, and designed the show's research and curriculum. She produced and developed other Blue's Clues projects, such as the full-length movie Blue's Big Musical Movie, educational CDs and books based on the show, two Blue's Clues theatrical productions, which toured across the U.S., and the reboot Blue's Clues & You!.[6] She was also the founder of a company called Out of the Blue Enterprises which later was renamed to 9 Story USA. In 2007, Santomero created the PBS program Super Why!; she also served as executive producer and head writer.[6]

In 2011, she became host of PBS's The Parent Show, an online series about parenting. In September 2012, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, for which Santomero is creator,[13] executive producer and head writer, debuted on PBS.[14] After Fred died in 2003, "Kevin Morrison (CEO-Fred Rogers Co.) reached out to Angela and asked what show she would do to honor Fred's legacy". Her idea was an animated version of Fred Rogers' Neighborhood of Make Believe. This was the birth of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.[15]

On March 28, 2023, Angela C. Santomero left 9 Story Media Group.

She is also the creator and producer of the Amazon original series Creative Galaxy and Wishenpoof!, and the Netflix series Charlie's Colorforms City.[16][17] Angela authored Preschool Clues - Raising Smart, Inspired and Engaged Kids in a Screen-Filled World (Touchstone 2018)[18] with co-author Deborah Reber, and authored Radical Kindness - The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Receiving (HarperCollins Publishers 2019)[19] with foreword by Deepak Chopra.

Personal life

Santomero resides in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband Greg, an Emmy Award-winning designer/creative director, and their two daughters.

References

  1. ^ "Can 'Blue's Clues' Creator Angela Santomero Launch a 'Signature' Show for Amazon?". thewrap.com. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  2. ^ Staff. "Taking Reading to New Heights; Harrington Park and Hillsdale Natives Strive to Make New Children's TV Show Appealing and Educational" Archived 2013-06-15 at archive.today, The Record (Bergen County), September 7, 1998 September 3, 2007. Accessed April 22, 2013. "Created by Harrington Park native Angela Santomero and Hillsdale native Samantha Freeman the same pair who made Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues must-see TV among the playground set Super Why will teach basic reading skills such as spelling, letter recognition and theme comprehension to school-age children."
  3. ^ Albrizio, Lianna. "Harrington Park school district honors Blues Clues writer", Northern Valley Suburbanite, July 7, 2011. accessed April 22, 2013. "And on June 20, the k-8 school recognized Angela C. Santomero, co-writer of the Emmy award-winning children's television show, Blues Clues, as the latest Circle of Leadership inductee during the school's moving up ceremony.... A member of the class of 1982, Santomero is someone who Fried feels embodies this idea."
  4. ^ Nathan, Bradi. "Meet Blue's Clues and Super WHY! creator, Angela Santomero" Archived 2013-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, MyWorkButterfly.com, August 3, 2010. Accessed April 22, 2013. "Four towns poured into Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan New Jersey. There couldn't have been more than 5,000 people in each town. Harrington Park was one of them- a sleepy little area in Bergen County that I called home.... I fondly remember two sisters who lived in Harrington Park: Jennifer and Angela.... Amongst her many accomplishments, Angela led the production and development of the Emmy nominated Blue's Big Musical Movie, wrote two Blue's Clues' theatrical productions that played in venues across the nation and co-founded Out of the Blue Enterprises."
  5. ^ "Department of Psychology" (n.d.). The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  6. ^ a b c d "Angela Santomero" (n.d.). Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  7. ^ Tracy, p. 13
  8. ^ Jaffe, Eric (December 2005). "Watch and Learn". APS Observer18 (12). Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  9. ^ Tracy, p. 14
  10. ^ a b Dumas, Angela (October 2009). "Angela's Smashes" Archived 2012-07-26 at the Wayback Machine. Greenwich Magazine. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  11. ^ Jim Forbes (narrator) (2006-07-27). "Behind the Clues: 10 Years of Blue (Part 1)" (Short documentary). Nickelodeon
  12. ^ Tracy, p. 12
  13. ^ "The Daniel Tiger Doctrine". The Atlantic. 16 July 2018.
  14. ^ "The Legacy of Mister Rogers Continues for Today's Kids | PBS" Archived July 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (n.d.). Iowa Public Television. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  15. ^ "A Different Kind of Tiger Mom". Forbes. 31 August 2012.
  16. ^ Zahed, Ramin (June 18, 2018). "Santomero Appointed CCO of 9 Story Media". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  17. ^ Owen, Rob (August 2, 2018). "Cornucopia of Children's Content Comes to Streaming Services". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  18. ^ Santomero, Angela C.; Reber, Deborah (3 April 2018). Simon & Schuster - Preschool Clues by Angela C. Santomero. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781501174339.
  19. ^ "Radical Kindness; The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Receiving". Harper Collins Publishers. 5 March 2019.

Works cited

External links

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