Richard Anthony "Dick" Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

, specializing in crime dramas

Police procedural

The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 such as Miami Vice

Miami Vice

Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...

and the Law & Order franchise

Law & Order (franchise)

The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...

. Throughout his career he has won several awards including an Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

.
Wolf was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of Marie G. (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Gaffney), a homemaker, and George Wolf, an advertising executive. He went to Saint David's School

Saint David's School (New York City)

Saint David's School is a private, independent Catholic elementary school located on East 89th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is a single-sex establishment that educates boys from pre-kindergarten through grade eight. The headmaster is P. David O'Halloran...

 in New York City. Wolf was enrolled at Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 and graduated from The Gunnery

The Gunnery

The Gunnery is a coeducational boarding and day Prep school for 295 students in grades nine through twelve. The campus borders the village green of Washington, Connecticut, U.S., a small, historic town in the Litchfield Hills. The Gunnery has no religious or military affiliations.The Gunnery was...

.