Shonda Rhimes

Storytelling was in Shonda Rhimes' blood since she was a child growing up with her parents and five siblings in the Chicago, IL suburb of Forest Park South. And that love for the written word and the compelling story would go on to serve her well - not only as a successful feature film writer, but as the creator and executive producer of one of the most popular television series of the new millennium, the medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2004- ). The success of that series and its spinoff "Private Practice" (ABC 2007-2013) made Rhimes one of Hollywood's most prominent TV executives, leading to the explosive success of her hit series "Scandal" (ABC 2012-18) and "How To Get Away With Murder" (ABC 2014- ). When those two series and "Grey's Anatomy" constituted the entirety of ABC's Thursday prime time lineup, the network became affectionately dubbed "Shondaland" in some circles.