Biographie
Eric Gardner is a producer, showrunner, director, and writer whose contributions have shaped nonfiction storytelling for over thirty years. He recently co-created Legal Queens, the first vertical docusoap, for CheraTV. Gardner previously served as Executive Producer and Showrunner for Bravo's Shahs of Sunset across eight seasons and was Executive Producer for Season 2 of Below Deck, Season 1 of Gallery Girls, Season 1 of WE tv’s Waka & Tammy: What the Flocka, Stripped for Bravo, and the pilot of The Family Stallone. Early in his career, he earned six Primetime Emmy Award nominations for editing CBS’s Survivor and helped pioneer reality TV editing on Season 2 of MTV’s influential The Real World.
Gardner is often brought into nonfiction series during critical development phases to enhance creative direction, storytelling, and format. As Executive Producer and Showrunner, he guided Shahs of Sunset through its first eight seasons, establishing it as one of Bravo’s flagship franchises and showcasing authentic Iranian-American culture on mainstream television. His work on Below Deck, Gallery Girls, Stripped, Waka & Tammy: What the Flocka, and The Family Stallone reflects a career dedicated to helping networks and studios redefine nonfiction programming at key developmental moments.
His projects consistently focus on communities, cultures, and perspectives seldom represented in mainstream media. From the Iranian-American families in Shahs of Sunset and Latino drag performers in Queenas to the young trial lawyers of Legal Queens and educators featured in his literacy documentaries, Gardner’s work blends compelling characters with stories that expand audience understanding.
Additional credits include Senior Editor of Fox’s Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, one of the network’s highest-rated specials; producer and director of photography for the feature documentary Queenas, funded by Canal+ and the Danish Film Board; co-producer and editor of PBS’s Great Streets: Champs-Élysées, starring Halle Berry; co-director of the feature documentary Confessions of a CEO, featuring Deepak Chopra; and co-writer, producer, and editor of the feature film Breakaway, starring Tonya Harding. As a director, he won Best Feature at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival for Under the Influence, starring Peter Greene.
Beyond entertainment, Gardner is a nationally recognized literacy advocate and serves on the Board of Directors for the Hubble Difference Foundation. He wrote and produced the feature documentaries Disleksia: The Movie and Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars, which have become key professional development resources within the science of reading community. These films are utilized by organizations and educational institutions such as Haskins Laboratories at Yale University and The Reading League.
Currently, Gardner is developing projects through Neighborhood Pictures, including co-writing and co-directing the romantic comedy Foodie Heaven with Maria Alexandria Beech. Set in Italy’s Abruzzo region, the film stars Enrique Arrizon and Gabriella Milla.
