Joel Surnow

Joel Surnow (born December 18, 1955) is an American television writer and producer. He is the co-creator of the action series La Femme Nikita and 24. Life and career Joel Surnow is of Jewish descent. He was raised in Michigan and later Los Angeles. Surnow attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years, and eventually graduated from UCLA film school in 1976. Soon after graduation, he began writing for film; he then switched to television. His breakthrough came when he began writing for Miami Vice, in 1984. By the end of the year, Universal Studios, which owned the show, assigned Surnow to The Equalizer, as Supervising Producer, about a CIA officer turned vigilante. He has five daughters, two from a previous marriage and three with his current wife.