# Davis Guggenheim
**Davis Guggenheim** (birth name Philip Davis Guggenheim) is an American film and television director and producer best known for documentary features, including *An Inconvenient Truth* (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/). His documentary work spans climate change, education reform, music, and disability rights, and his recent films include *Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie* (2023) and *Deaf President Now!* (2025)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/) • [2](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth year | 1963 according to IMDb[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/); 1964 according to the World Biographical Encyclopedia[3](https://prabook.com/web/davis.guggenheim/1679458) |
| Signature film | *An Inconvenient Truth* (2006), Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/) |
| Early career | After graduating from Brown University, directed episodes of *NYPD Blue*, *ER*, *24*, and *Deadwood*; executive producer of *Training Day* (2001)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/) |
| Education films | *The First Year* and *Teach* (1999 project on novice Los Angeles teachers), *Waiting for "Superman"* (2010)[4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/) • [5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim) |
| Recent work | *Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie* (2023), National Board of Review documentary winner; *Deaf President Now!* (2025), co-directed with Nyle DiMarco[6](https://apnews.com/article/4b7f3827bd70dea94f564b4b89ecea61) • [2](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/) |
| Family | Married to actress Elisabeth Shue since 1994; three children[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/) |
| Production company | Concordia Studio, funded by Laurene Powell Jobs and Emerson Collective[2](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/) |
## Television beginnings
After graduating from [Brown University](https://www.edgepedia.org/brown-university), Guggenheim began his career in television, directing and producing episodes of drama series including *NYPD Blue*, *ER*, *24*, and *Deadwood*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/). His own biography credits him as producer and director of the Emmy Award-winning HBO series *Deadwood* and director of the pilot of CBS's *The Unit*, along with episodes of *Numb3rs*, *The Shield*, *[Alias](https://www.edgepedia.org/alias-tv-series)*, and *Party of Five*[4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/). He was an executive producer of the feature film *Training Day* (2001) and directed the Warner Brothers film *Gossip* (2000)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/) • [4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/).
His first screen credit came earlier. The [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute) catalog lists him as Los Angeles production coordinator on [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh)'s *Sex, Lies, and Videotape* (1989), associate producer of *Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead* (1991), and co-producer of *The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them* (1993)[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim).
## An Inconvenient Truth
Guggenheim directed and executive produced *An Inconvenient Truth* (2006), the documentary featuring former Vice President Al Gore on global warming, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature[4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/). He brought the film to the Library Center Theatre at Sundance in 2006 and later described that day as the launch of his creative life[7](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-back-story-get-to-know-davis-guggenheim-the-director-of-still-a-michael-j-fox-movie/). The American Film Institute also credits him as director of photography on the film[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim).
The film's reach was measurable by audience self-report: a [University of Southern California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-southern-california) program account states that three out of four viewers reported a change in habits as a result of seeing the documentary[8](https://cinema.usc.edu/mediainstituteforsocialchange/rationale.cfm). A history of documentary filmmaking prepared for the Academy's digital preservation forum lists it among the notable exceptions in which independent documentaries received broad theatrical distribution[9](https://academydigitalpreservationforum.org/content/uploads/2024/12/digital-dilemma-2_15b.pdf).
## Education films
__[Classroom](https://www.edgepedia.org/classroom) subjects__ recur across Guggenheim's nonfiction work. In 1999 he undertook a project documenting the first year of several novice public school teachers, producing two documentary films, *The First Year* and *Teach*, made to address the shortage of qualified teachers in California and nationwide[4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/). His education-reform documentary *Waiting for "Superman"* (2010), which he also wrote, followed[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim). An [Ohio State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/ohio-state-university) dissertation analyzing the film's marketing notes it was sponsored by the Gates Foundation and Participant Media[10](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send%3Faccession%3Dmiami1430144769%26disposition%3Dinline).
## Fiction features
His credited fiction features are *Gossip* (2000) and *Gracie* (2007), the latter a soccer drama released in June 2007 that he directed, produced, and co-wrote the story for[4](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/) • [5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim). He also directed the music documentary *It Might Get Loud* (2009)[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim).
## Later documentaries
*He Named Me Malala* (2015) profiled [Malala Yousafzai](https://www.edgepedia.org/malala-yousafzai), the [Nobel Peace Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/nobel-peace-prize) winner attacked by the Taliban for speaking out on girls' education, and was produced with Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes[11](https://time.com/4075739/malala-yousafzai-featurette/). Guggenheim told RogerEbert.com that the film's structure built toward a double choice: a girl choosing to risk her life to speak, and a father choosing to let her speak[12](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/like-a-raw-nerve-davis-guggenheim-on-he-named-me-malala).
He has also directed political and biographical profiles, including documentary work for [Barack Obama](https://www.edgepedia.org/barack-obama) and the Netflix docuseries *Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates* (2019)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/).
*Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie* (2023) follows the actor's life with [Parkinson's disease](https://www.edgepedia.org/parkinsons-disease). It won the documentary award at the National Board of Review Awards, where [Michael J. Fox](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-j-fox) took the stage with Guggenheim to a standing ovation[6](https://apnews.com/article/4b7f3827bd70dea94f564b4b89ecea61). In a Screen Daily interview, Guggenheim said the film "brought the joy back in my work" and described his editor's search for scenes matching Fox's recollections of *Back to the Future* and *Family Ties*[13](https://www.screendaily.com/features/emmys-spotlight-davis-guggenheim-on-why-still-a-michael-j-fox-movie-is-not-just-another-celebrity-documentary/5184885.article).
*Deaf President Now!* (2025), for Apple TV+, revisits the 1988 week-long student protest at [Gallaudet University](https://www.edgepedia.org/gallaudet-university) that led to the appointment of the university's first Deaf president. Guggenheim co-directed the film with [Nyle DiMarco](https://www.edgepedia.org/nyle-dimarco), a Deaf activist, actor, and author, who told him he did not want the project "to be framed as a story of pity"[2](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/). Guggenheim took a similar approach in *Still*, which also follows a public figure through disability rather than framing him as an object of sympathy[2](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/).
## Personal life
Guggenheim has been married to Academy Award-nominated actress [Elisabeth Shue](https://www.edgepedia.org/elisabeth-shue) since 1994, and the couple has three children[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/).
## References
1. [Davis Guggenheim, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0346550/)
2. [A Striking Moment in American Activism, The Atlantic (2025)](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/deaf-president-now-documentary-film-review/682877/)
3. [Davis Guggenheim, World Biographical Encyclopedia (Prabook)](https://prabook.com/web/davis.guggenheim/1679458)
4. [Davis Guggenheim, official site](https://www.davisguggenheim.com/)
5. [Davis Guggenheim filmography, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/265528-Davis-Guggenheim)
6. [Daniel Day-Lewis breaks from retirement to fete Martin Scorsese at National Board of Review Awards, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/4b7f3827bd70dea94f564b4b89ecea61)
7. [Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Davis Guggenheim, Sundance Institute](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-back-story-get-to-know-davis-guggenheim-the-director-of-still-a-michael-j-fox-movie/)
8. [Rationale and Context, USC Cinematic Arts Media Institute for Social Change](https://cinema.usc.edu/mediainstituteforsocialchange/rationale.cfm)
9. [A Brief History of Documentary Filmmaking, Academy Digital Preservation Forum](https://academydigitalpreservationforum.org/content/uploads/2024/12/digital-dilemma-2_15b.pdf)
10. [Ohio State University dissertation on Waiting for "Superman" marketing](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send%3Faccession%3Dmiami1430144769%26disposition%3Dinline)
11. [Behind the Making of He Named Me Malala, Time](https://time.com/4075739/malala-yousafzai-featurette/)
12. [Like a Raw Nerve: Davis Guggenheim on He Named Me Malala, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/like-a-raw-nerve-davis-guggenheim-on-he-named-me-malala)
13. [Emmys spotlight: Davis Guggenheim on Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/features/emmys-spotlight-davis-guggenheim-on-why-still-a-michael-j-fox-movie-is-not-just-another-celebrity-documentary/5184885.article)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Documentary film directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license