Writer, producer Abraham Higginbotham to address 2019 CFA graduates
Boston University College of Fine Arts announces Abraham Higginbotham as 2019 Convocation Speaker
Award-winning producer of Modern Family, writer of Will & Grace, Arrested Development to address BU College of Fine Arts graduates on May 18, 2019.
Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) proudly announces that Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Abraham Higginbotham (CFA’92) has been named the speaker for the 2019 CFA Convocation. The College of Fine Arts Convocation will be held on Saturday, May 18, at 4pm at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.
Higginbotham, widely considered one of the smartest writers in Hollywood, is a writer and Executive Producer of ABC’s lauded situational comedy Modern Family. Past writing credits include Arrested Development, Will & Grace, Ugly Betty, and Family Guy. He is a graduate of Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre.
Raised in the relatively small town of Washington, Pennsylvania, Higginbotham enjoyed the arts, especially dance, as a young boy. He learned early that he had the rare ability to create community through the skillful creation and telling of jokes. After high school, Higginbotham enrolled at Boston University to study acting.
Graduating with a BFA in 1992, he moved to New York City to pursue acting, after which he had a brief stint in the world of political fundraising and activism. Higginbotham then moved to Los Angeles to renew his acting career. Offered what he has described as a series of “ambiguously ethnic bad guy” roles on popular shows including 7th Heaven and Beverly Hills 90210, Higginbotham sought a different, more fulfilling career away from the camera and decided to try his hand at comedy writing.
Success followed almost immediately. Higginbotham earned a writing job on the short-lived NBC series A.U.S.A. which led to other shows, including Arrested Development, Will & Grace, Ugly Betty, and Family Guy. He is best known for Modern Family, on which he has worked for the past nine years as writer and Executive Producer and for which he has won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, two Humanitas Prizes, two Writers Guild Awards, and three Producers Guild Awards.
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Learn more about Boston University Commencement 2019 at bu.edu/commencement.