Topper Carew


Colin Anthony "Topper" Carew is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.

Early life

Carew was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in the Roxbury section of Boston. He attended John D. [O'Bryant School of Math & Science]. He initially went to college at Howard University, and later transferred to Yale, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Architecture and a master's degree in Environmental Design. He also has a Doctorate in Communications from the Union Graduate School/Institute for Policy Studies.

Career

Carew began his career making documentary films about the relationship between ethnic neighborhoods and the surrounding architecture. In 1966, he founded The New Thing Art and Architectural Center in Washington, D.C., and it became a community hub in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, hosting music, dance, and various youth programs.
In 1972, he worked at WGBH-TV.
In 1974, he co-founded the non-profit Rainbow Television Workshop in with his late wife, Alyce S. Carew.
He was a Community Fellow at MIT, and a Broadcast Fellow at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In 2018, he became a faculty fellow at Spelman College's Innovation Lab.
He directed and/or produced several films, including Talkin' Dirty After Dark, D.C. Cab, Breakin’ N’ Enterin’, and Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!.
He was the creator and executive producer of the television series Martin.

Personal life

Carew was married to Alyce Sprow Carew, who died from breast cancer in 2001. The couple has two daughters, Cicely and Lena Carew.

Honors and awards

His honors include the "National Media Hero Award," a 2013 MIT Martin Luther King Leadership Award, and more than 40 film and television awards, including four NAACP Image Awards and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.

Filmography

Television