Now in its 38th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape—through compelling, unvarnished stories.
Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards—including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special—two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors.
American Masters has produced an exceptional library, bringing originality and perspective to highlight our nation’s most enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, culinarians, scientists, athletes and more. Balancing a broad and diverse cast of characters and artistic approaches, American Masters reveals the style and substance of each subject while preserving historical authenticity and intellectual integrity.
The series’ individually crafted films reflect the specific attention deserved by American Masters subjects, including such great talents as Arthur Miller (the series’ first subject), Toni Morrison, Alvin Ailey, James Beard, Quincy Jones, Nam June Paik, Little Richard, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dick Cavett and Groucho Marx, James Baldwin, Roberta Flack, Louis Armstrong, Duke Kahanamoku, Ursula K. Le Guin, Amy Tan, Keith Haring, Carole King, Maya Angelou, Rita Moreno, Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Brown, N. Scott Momaday and Billie Jean King, as well as influential cultural institutions and eras such as the Actor’s Studio, the Algonquin Round Table, the Negro Ensemble Company, the Juilliard School, The American Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet and a century of Chinese American cinematic history in Hollywood Chinese.
Fascinating in their individuality as well as in the aggregate, the collection of films exhibited by American Masters has become a cultural legacy in its own right, an extraordinary mosaic of our creative heritage that can broaden a viewer’s appreciation and understanding of the titans who have shaped American history and culture.
American Masters explores the past, present and future across a variety of platforms.
Founded in 2016 by executive producer Michael Kantor, American Masters Pictures is The WNET Group’s theatrical imprint for documentaries co-produced or distributed by American Masters. Films released under the American Masters Pictures banner have screened at eminent film festivals and venues around the world, including Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW, the Cannes Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Doc NYC.
American Masters: Creative Spark, a Webby Award-winning podcast, presents in-depth narrative interviews with contemporary creators and artists about the process behind their new and notable works. In 2020, we launched the In the Making series with Firelight Media, which follows cultural icons of color on their journeys to becoming masters of their respective crafts. Unladylike2020 focuses on political change and civic engagement, examining the risks women took over 100 years ago that continue to shape our political landscape today.
American Masters is dedicated to ensuring that our programming is accessible to all, with recent efforts including extended audio description, open captions, combined transcription, and on-screen ASL interpretation for projects like Becoming Helen Keller and Renegades.
To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, educational resources, digital original series and more. The American Masters digital archive—which includes over 1,000 hours of footage from more than 1,000 original, never-before-seen, full, raw interviews—is a powerful database of American artistic and cultural achievements.
For media inquiries about American Masters, please refer to the THIRTEEN pressroom. To learn more about the history of American Masters, see this interview with series founder Susan Lacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch American Masters?
American Masters is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, and available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. PBS station members can view many series, documentaries and specials via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.
American Masters does not have regularly scheduled programming. Premiere dates are national but may vary in time and date by local PBS station. Visit TV Schedules to sign into your local station and see what programs are available in the next two weeks.
Does American Masters have an email newsletter?
You can subscribe to our weekly newsletter here to receive exclusive articles and clips highlighting America’s most enduring icons, as well as updates on our latest premieres and screenings near you.
How can I purchase a DVD of an American Masters film?
To purchase DVDs of AMERICAN MASTERS episodes, please visit ShopPBS or call 1-800-531-4727.
Do you have educational materials?
PBS LearningMedia regularly creates educational materials to accompany American Masters episodes. Please see in the top navigation of this site to see the resources available.
Series Credits
Major Awards