THE BIO

Tara Denise is an eight-time Emmy Award winner:  six for Lighting Direction and two for Production Design.  She’s been nominated for an Emmy an astounding 16 times.

She grew up in Chicago and trained, first in local store-front theaters and then graduated to such world-renowned venues as the “Goodman” and the “Steppenwolf.”  With tenacity, a quick ability to learn and dependability she honed her craft first as an electrician, master electrician, stage hand and sometimes even audio tech.

This hands-on experience plus her studies in Chicago, Rhode Island and London culminated in a call from “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

It is here at the legendary program, which changed television and the world…

Tara became a visionary. 

Joining the iconic, daily program, when it was a single set and five cameras, Tara – as a collaborative soul - helped expand the production to multiple sets and an eight camera compliment. Starting as an assistant lighting director Tara quickly was promoted to lighting designer.

As the show evolved, so did Tara’s role. She, with her team, created Harpo’s now famous set design business.  She carved out a space in Harpo Studios known simply as “the garage” and provided massive set design, beautiful art direction, intricate set decoration, memorable props, costumes for celebrities, state-of-the-art special effects, gorgeous lighting design, and industry-standard rigging.

Along the way at “The Oprah Winfrey Show” Tara interviewed, hired and trained a staff of skilled artists and tech-savvy engineers. Tara was soon promoted to the coveted role of Production Designer for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

With this role, Tara oversaw domestic and international remote shoots from the Sydney Opera House to Radio City Music Hall to Oprah’s yearly, exclusive “After the Oscars” episodes in the Kodak Theater.

She has worked with everyone you can name from Barbra Streisand to Lady Gaga; Madonna to The Black Eyed Peas; Meryl Streep to Tom Cruise; Bono to Usher and the list goes on and on.

After 22 years, as the Oprah show came to an end, Tara was chosen to move on to Oprah’s burgeoning network: “OWN.”  She continued her role as Production Designer overseeing all tech aspects for “The Rosie Show”, “Oprah’s Lifeclass”, “Herlarious” with Wanda Sykes , “Oprah Prime”, “Oprah’s Next Chapter”, the multiple Emmy-winning “Super Soul Sunday” and various pilots: “Iyanla Fix My Life”, “Dr. Laura Berman”, “Friday’s Live” and “The Kirstie Alley Show”.