John Wells Receives Walk of Fame Star

Hollywood - John Wells, who wrote and produced such acclaimed television series as "ER" and "The West Wing," received the 2,457th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.

George Clooney, who spent five seasons on "ER" before devoting himself full-time to his movie career, and Allison Janney, a cast member on "The West Wing" throughout its seven-season run, joined Wells in speaking in the ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Hudson Apartments.

The ceremony comes five days before the season premiere of the Wells-produced police drama "Southland" on TNT. Wells' other current series, the Showtime drama "Shameless," began its second season Sunday.

Born on May 28, 1956 in Alexandria, Va., and raised in Denver, Wells graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a bachelor of fine arts and later received a master's degree in film and television from USC.

Wells began his career as a producer of the 1987 film comedy "Nice Girls Don't Explode." His first television project was writing "Roughhouse," a pilot CBS passed on in 1988.

Wells is a six-time Emmy winner, four as a producer of "The West Wing" when it was named as outstanding drama series, one as a producer of "ER" when it won in the category and one as a producer for a documentary on "The West Wing" honored as the outstanding special class
program.

Wells' other television series credits include being a writer and producer on the 1988-91 ABC Vietnam War drama "China Beach" and co-creating the NBC drama about emergency service workers "Third Watch," which ran from 1999-2005.

Wells made his feature film directing debut with the 2010 drama "The Company Men," which he also wrote and produced. His film producing credits include "Duma," "White Oleander," and "The Good Thief."

Wells was president of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1999-2001 and 2009-2011.