Josh Sapan

Sapan was born to a Jewish family in Queens, New York. His father worked in advertising, and his mother was an off-off-Broadway actress. Sapan was raised in Little Neck, Queens and attended P.S. 187. Sapan studied radio, television and film at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but left school in 1970 moving to Boulder, Colorado and later Berkeley, California.

When he returned to college at UW-Madison, Sapan worked for a company that “four-walled” films, taking 35 mm prints of wilderness films to theaters rented by the film company in small towns in Wisconsin. He performed at Broom Street opposite André De Shields who would later star in "The Wiz" on Broadway. Part of a film society in college, Sapan purchased two 16 mm projectors and established a mobile movie exhibition business, the Court Street Theatre, in Athens Ohio.

After graduating from UW-Madison in 1975, Sapan returned to New York City and worked various jobs including as a labor union organizer for the nursing home and hospital industry's Local 1114, later subsumed into Local 1199. He successfully organized the King James nursing home for that union.

During this time, Sapan volunteered at UA Columbia Cablevision in Wayne & Pompton townships New Jersey. Sapan then sold a series of shows to the UA Columbia, producing and hosting a show called Student Film Review in which he interviewed and showed area filmmakers' short films.

Sapan began his career in cable television at Tele-PrompTer Manhattan Cable TV, which later became Time Warner Cable. He later joined the premium pay-TV service Showtime, where he led marketing, creative services and on-air programming.

Rainbow Media

In 1987, Sapan joined the National Entertainment Division of Rainbow Media, a programming subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, as president of AMC and Bravo He was named CEO of Rainbow Media in 1995. Under Sapan, Rainbow Media launched WE tv and IFC (Independent Film Channel), and in 2002, sold Bravo to NBC for $1.25 billion in stock and cash. In 2005, Sapan opened New York City's IFC Center, the brick-and-mortar home for the IFC Films brand and home to DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in the United States.

In May 2008, Sapan led the company's acquisition of Sundance Channel from General Electric Company's NBC Universal, CBS Corporation's Showtime Networks, and entities controlled by Robert Redford. Under Sapan's leadership, Sundance Channel expanded into original programming with series such as Carlos, Rectify, Top of the Lake and The Honorable Woman.

In 2010, Sapan led the creation of AMC Studios, the company's in-house production and distribution arm. AMC Studios’ first production was The Walking Dead.

Sapan is married to Ann Foley, a former television executive at Showtime. The family resides in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.