Born in New York City. Chairman and CEO of de Passe Entertainment, Suzanne de Passe began her career at Motown Records as Creative Assistant to Berry Gordy, subsequently rising to the position of President of Motown Productions. She was a partner in Gordy/de Passe Productions prior to establishing de Passe Entertainment in 1992. The recipient of an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the screenplay LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972), Ms. de Passe won two Emmy Awards and NAACP Image Awards as Executive Producer of "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever" and "Motown Returns to the Apollo." She also served as Executive Producer for the highly acclaimed and award winning mini-series "Lonesome Dove," "Small Sacrifices," "The Jacksons: An American Dream" and "Buffalo Girls." Ms de Passe has received numerous honors, including the AWRT (American Women in Radio and Television) Silver Satellite Award (1999), Women in Film Crystal Award (1988), Revlon Business Woman of the Year Award (1994), Essence Business Award (1989) and was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1990. She is the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies: Suzanne de Passe and Motown Productions and de Passe Entertainment. Ms de Passe served as Executive Producer on the half hour shows, "Sister, Sister" and "Smart Guy," both of which aired on the WB Network, and which were produced in association with Paramount and Disney Television, respectively. Additionally, Ms de Passe served as Executive Producer on the 4-hour documentary "Motown 40: The Music Is Forever" which aired on ABC. She was Executive Producer of "The Temptations," the four-hour Emmy Award winning miniseries, for NBC; Executive Producer of "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century" which aired on the Disney Channel; Executive Producer of "The Loretta Claiborne Story" for Disney/ABC Sunday Night; Executive Producer of "Cheaters" which aired on HBO in May 2000 as well as "Zenon: The Zequel" which aired in January 2001 on the Disney Channel. More recently, Ms de Passe served as Executive Producer of the 32nd and 34th Annual NAACP Image Awards, which aired in 2001 and 2003 on the Fox Network. She produced the 2002 and 2003 Essence Awards and the 2005 and 2006 Black Movie Awards shows. Currently in pre-production is a feature film, ADDICTED, planned for a 2008 release.  Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published) 1972: LADY SINGS THE BLUES (w. Terence McCloy & Chris Clark) 1 nomination