Tim Kring Bio
Richard Timothy Kring (born July 9, 1957) is an American screenwriter and television producer whose work has shaped modern serialized drama on American network and cable television. He is the creator behind the series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, Heroes, and Touch, projects that brought layered, character-driven storytelling to prime-time audiences throughout the 2000s and into the next decade. Beyond television, Kring co-authored the novel Shift with writer Dale Peck in 2010. Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with major broadcast networks and developed a reputation as a thoughtful producer of genre-driven drama.
Early Life and Background
Tim Kring was born on July 9, 1957, in El Dorado County, California, and grew up in a close-knit family environment that shaped his early years. He is Jewish and has two brothers and a sister, family ties that grounded his upbringing in the rural Northern California region. As a young man, Kring attended Allan Hancock College, where his father, Ray, served as the track coach, giving him a daily connection to campus life beyond the classroom.
He later transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 1983 with a degree that launched him toward a career in film and television. During his college years, Kring was drawn to the practical side of production, taking on documentary work and assisting on commercial shoots rather than focusing solely on screenwriting. Reflecting on his early direction, Kring has explained that he did not initially think about scripts after leaving film school, instead pulling cables and shooting documentaries before pivoting toward writing as a professional path.
Path to Writing
After finishing his studies at the University of Southern California, Kring worked on commercial shoots, including Japanese cigarette commercials, serving as a second assistant on camera crews. The hands-on experience taught him the rhythm of production, but he ultimately decided that writing was the right fit for his ambitions. He sat down and wrote a script, leveraged the contacts he had built on set, secured an agent, and began pitching projects across Hollywood.
That persistence led to his first staff writing position on the 1980s action series Knight Rider, a foundational credit that opened the door to further television work. He went on to co-write an episode of Misfits of Science, a show centered on super-powered humans, a theme that would echo through his later career. He also collaborated with writer Jeph Loeb on the film Teen Wolf Too, establishing a working relationship that would prove significant in the years ahead.
Tim Kring Career
Early Career (1980s–1990s)
Kring’s professional screenwriting began in the 1980s, with Knight Rider serving as his entry into the writers’ room of a major network series. From there, he took on a variety of projects, including the science fiction series Misfits of Science and the film Teen Wolf Too, the latter co-written with Jeph Loeb. These early credits allowed him to refine his craft across genres, from action-adventure television to science fiction storytelling.
Throughout the 1990s, Kring continued to build his résumé, steadily working his way toward opportunities to develop original series. In 1999, he signed a deal with NBC, a relationship that would eventually lead to one of the most ambitious projects of his career. By the end of the decade, he was positioned to step into the role of creator and showrunner on his own programming.
Breakthrough (1999–2010)
Kring’s first major creation, Strange World, premiered in 1999, marking his debut as a series creator on network television. He followed that with Crossing Jordan, a crime drama centered on a forensic pathologist, which became a long-running staple of the NBC schedule in the early 2000s. These two series established Kring as a reliable source of compelling, character-focused drama and laid the groundwork for his most ambitious work.
That work arrived in 2006 with Heroes, a serialized drama about ordinary people around the world who discover they have extraordinary abilities. Co-produced with Jeph Loeb, Heroes became a cultural phenomenon, blending superhero mythology with emotional family drama in a way that influenced an entire wave of genre television. The series earned Kring an Emmy Award nomination in 2007 for Outstanding Drama Series as a producer, a recognition of the show’s impact and ambition.
Notable Works and Milestones
Tim Kring’s signature creation is Heroes, the 2006 NBC drama that became a defining series of its era and earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series in 2007. Beyond Heroes, his notable works include Strange World, Crossing Jordan, and Touch, each representing a distinct chapter in his evolution as a creator. His collaboration with Jeph Loeb, which began on Teen Wolf Too and continued through Heroes, remains one of his most important creative partnerships.
Later Career (2011–Present)
Following the conclusion of Heroes in 2010, Kring created the Fox drama Touch, which premiered on January 25, 2012. The series starred Kiefer Sutherland as a father who discovers that his mute young son can perceive future events, weaving numerology and global connections into an emotional family story. Touch ran for two seasons before being cancelled by Fox on May 9, 2013.
On February 22, 2014, NBC announced during its Olympics coverage that Heroes would return as a 13-episode event miniseries titled Heroes Reborn. The revival premiered in 2015 with Tim Kring serving as executive producer, extending the mythology he had built nearly a decade earlier. Throughout this period, Kring also expanded into publishing, co-writing the 2010 novel Shift with Dale Peck as part of the Gates of Orpheus Trilogy.
Tim Kring Award Nominations
Tim Kring has received recognition from major television industry bodies across his career. His most notable nomination came in 2007, when he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series as a producer of Heroes, reflecting the series’ critical and cultural impact during its original run on NBC.
Tim Kring Awards Won
Verified records confirm that Tim Kring has been honored by industry recognitions tied to his work on Heroes. Beyond the formal nominations, he was named one of the Masters of Sci-Fi TV for his contributions to the genre, a distinction that highlights his influence on science fiction storytelling in American television.
Tim Kring Family
Tim Kring was raised in a family with strong ties to athletics and education. His father, Ray Kring, served as the track coach at Allan Hancock College, where Tim later studied as a young man. He grew up alongside two brothers and a sister in El Dorado County, California, in a household rooted in Jewish heritage and community.
Personal Life
Tim Kring was born and raised in El Dorado County, California, and later moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1983. His professional life has been closely tied to the television industry in Southern California, where he has built his career as both a screenwriter and producer. Public details about his personal relationships remain limited in verified sources.