From 'Glee' to 'Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,' a Look Back at Ryan Murphy's Prolific TV Career

Ryan Murphy is the writer, producer, and creative force behind some of television's most popular, groundbreaking, and, honestly, most unsettling shows. Murphy first rose to prominence with the series "Nip/Tuck," which aired in 2003, and later gained mass acclaim for shows like "Glee," "American Horror Story" and "Pose."

In 2017, he signed the biggest streaming deal ever with Netflix, estimated at $300 million, according to Time magazine. While not all of her shows have been hits - Shonda Rhimes, who also signed a $100 million deal with Netflix in 2018, has far surpassed Murphy's contributions to Netflix in hours watched, according to The Ankler - many have received rave reviews.

And no matter what, Murphy's impact on television is undeniable, as he continues to create thought-provoking and unexpected work. In 2022, he launched the documentary "The Andy Warhol Diaries" and the series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story", the latter starring Evan Peters. He's also working on the second season of 'Feud', this time focusing on Truman Capote and his strained relationship with his girlfriends - and Molly Ringwald and Chloë Sevigny have already joined the cast.

His works have also paved the way for better representation of LGBTQ+ characters on television in particular, with shows like "Pose" making groundbreaking strides in terms of who actually gets their stories told on mainstream television. In fact, "Pose"'s Michaela Jaé Rodriguez became the first transgender actress to win a Golden Globe in January for her role on the show. When Murphy first moved to Hollywood, he recalled being labeled as "someone who couldn't sell a script and being told everything I did was too gay or too extravagant". But he stayed true to his vision. “I only wrote or created shows that I really wanted to watch, so they inevitably had gay characters and trans and minority characters,” he told the Guardian in 2019.