Jon Kroll is an American Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Director, and Writer who has done significant work in film and both scripted and non-scripted television. He is notable for his prolific output, which also includes publishing, theme parks, radio and stage work.
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Jon was raised on a commune in Northern California where there was no electricity or television. He attended San Francisco State University where he earned his Bachelor's in Film Production, and then the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television's Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program, where he received an MFA.
Jon lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife of more than twenty years, Karen Kroll.
Earlier in his career, he directed three feature films, including Amanda and the Alien based on a short story by Robert Silverberg, which became Showtime's highest rated original film of 1995. He directed two other films, Menno’s Mind and The Clone, and developed Arthur C. Clarke’s short story Patent Pending into a feature script for Showtime, but it was not produced.
Kroll has Executive Produced such shows as “The Week the Women Went” for the BBC and Lifetime, “Pit Bulls & Parolees” for Animal Planet, “Flipping Vegas” for A&E, "Big Brother" on CBS, High School Confidential on WE-TV, and From Star Wars to Star Wars on Fox. He also Co-Executive Produced The Amazing Race, for which he won a 2004 prime time Emmy Award. His most notable scripted show to date has been Blade: The Series, which was SPIKE TV's first original dramatic series.
Kroll is most known for creating and Executive Producing "Amish in the City," a controversial show for UPN that caused 51 members of congress to send a letter of protest to the network. The show eventually aired to critical acclaim.
In addition to his film credits and television credits, Kroll has been responsible for several live stage productions, radio programs for National Public Radio, and was the Supervising Show Director for Sanrio Harmonyland, a theme park in Japan. Jon is also an Adjunct Professor for USC's School of Cinematic Arts.