Suzanne de Passe


Suzanna Celeste de Passe, known professionally as Suzanne de Passe, is an American businesswoman, television, music and film producer. De Passe serves as the co-chairwoman of de Passe Jones Entertainment Group.

Biography

Early life and education

De Passe was born in New York City to a father of Haitian and French descent, and a mother of Caribbean descent. Raised in Harlem, De Passe attended Manhattan High School and later Syracuse University.

Career

De Passe began her career in show business at the Cheetah nightclub in New York City. Through her friendship with Cindy Birdsong, who replaced Florence Ballard as a member of The Supremes in 1967, she began working at Motown as Creative Assistant to company founder, Berry Gordy. Early in her career, de Passe developed Michael Jackson and his brothers 's wardrobe and the act they took on the road. She was instrumental in taking the record label to television with a host of critically acclaimed and highly rated specials, including the multiple award-winning Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever produced while she was President of Motown Productions. When Motown was sold, she partnered with her mentor in Gordy/de Passe Productions and subsequently established de Passe Entertainment in 1992. De Passe's long association with Mr. Gordy was featured in the December 2008 issue of Vanity Fair: Motown the Untold Story, The Labels Greatest Legends, In Their Own Words with photography by Annie Leibovitz.
The subject of two Harvard Business School case studies: "Suzanne de Passe and Motown Productions" and "de Passe Entertainment", de Passe has lectured at the Harvard Business School on several occasions. In 2002, de Passe was named Time Warner Visiting Professor to the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University's John H. Johnson School of Communications, a post she held for the requisite 3 years. During Howard University's 138th Charter Day celebration in March 2006, de Passe received an honorary doctorate degree of Doctor of Humanities. De Passe is currently serving as the Producer-in-Residence at Emerson College, School of the Arts in Boston. She also served as the Emerson College 2007 Balfour Distinguished Lecturer. De Passe served as Executive Producer of the half-hour situation comedies Sister, Sister and Smart Guy, both of which aired on The WB and were produced in association with Paramount and Disney Television, respectively.
From 2002 until 2008 served as Executive Producer of Showtime at the Apollo, a weekly variety program nationally syndicated by Warner Brother/Telepictures. In 2005 and 2006 she co-created, wrote, and executive produced the Black Movie Awards for TNT. Currently, she is developing King, a film on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2009, De Passe was featured in HBO's The Black List: Vol. 2. This is the second installment of the documentary including other prominent African Americans such as filmmaker Tyler Perry, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and Pastor T.D. Jakes.

Television

Mini-series

Network

The recipient of an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the screenplay Lady Sings the Blues making her the first person of color to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay, as well as the first black woman nominated in any category besides an acting category. De Passe also won two Emmy Awards and NAACP Image Awards as executive producer of ' and Motown Returns to the Apollo. De Passe served as executive producer for the highly acclaimed and multiple award-winning, CBS western miniseries Lonesome Dove, that won both Golden Globe and Peabody Awards and was voted "Outstanding Program of the Year" by the Television Critics Association.
As executive producer of the benchmark NBC miniseries The Temptations, de Passe won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Miniseries and was nominated for both the Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award for Best Miniseries. She also served as Executive Producer for Small Sacrifices, ' and Buffalo Girls, all of which were nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Miniseries.
A veteran of over three decades in Hollywood, generating over a billion dollars in revenue in the entertainment industry, and dividing her time and talent between Los Angeles and New York, de Passe has also received countless awards for her contributions to the television, movie and music industries including:
Recent community honors include:
In 1978, De Passe married to actor Paul Le Mat and they had three children together. They have since divorced.

Boards, trade associations and affiliations

Additionally, she has appeared as a speaker before numerous businesses and industry trade groups, including: