Danny Cannon

Danny Cannon is a British film and television director, writer, and executive producer, known for his groundbreaking work on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), which he directed the pilot of and stayed on as executive producer, writer/director (including the CSI: Miami (2002) and CSI: NY (2004) spinoffs) of what would become a billion-dollar franchise and global phenomenon.

One of the rare television pilot directors to also operate as a key writer, Cannon has directed 16 television pilots, 13 of which were ordered to series, including: Training Day (2017), The Tomorrow People (2013), Dark Blue (2009), The Forgotten (2009), and Eleventh Hour (2008). At one time, he had five series on air simultaneously.

Cannon began filmmaking as a teenager, winning the BBC Young Filmmaker of the Year Award, where Alan Parker was a judge and became an early friend and supporter of his work. After graduating from the National Film and Television School in England, Cannon drew attention in Hollywood, launching a feature career in his twenties with The Young Americans (1993), followed by Judge Dredd (1995) and the teen cult classic I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).

Following his CSI primetime success with Jerry Bruckheimer, Cannon developed Gotham (2014), once again directing the pilot and serving as exec producer, writer/director across its five-season run and receiving a Critics Choice Award for 'Most Exciting New Series'.

Recent offerings include three seasons of HBO's Pennyworth (2019) and the 2026 mini series The Faithful (2026), starring Minnie Driver and Jeffrey Donovan.