Andrew Alexander (producer)

Andrew Alexander
Andrew Alexander at the Grand Opening of The Harold Ramis Film School.
Born	(1944-03-24) March 24, 1944 (age 73) London, England
Occupation	Chief Executive Officer/Executive Producer, Co-Owner of The Second City

Andrew Alexander is a theatre, television producer, known most widely for his leadership and co-ownership of The Second City, and for co-developing and producing the television show SCTV.

Andrew Alexander was born in London, England. His father, in the aeronautical industry, moved the family to Canada in 1951. He studied at Tri-State College in Indiana and Ryerson University in Toronto.

After Ryerson in 1967 Alexander worked for The Thompson Newspaper Chain and Oakville Beaver newspaper. In the early 1970s, Alexander moved around the Toronto arts scene working as an editor of Ski Magazine, and for the ill-fated John Lennon Peace Festival. Alexander worked at the Global Village Theatre, co-producing late night shows and marketing and publicity at the Toronto Arts Foundation. He was eventually hired by the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, where he met Bernard Sahlins, owner and co-founder of The Second City.

At the time, The Second City's Toronto location was failing. Alexander offered to assume the Toronto theatre's debts in exchange for the rights to operate The Second City in Canada. Bernie Sahlins agreed, and in 1974 Alexander took over The Second City Toronto.

As head of the Toronto theatre, Alexander produced and developed live theatre revues and launched the careers of comedians Gilda Radner, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and others. Two years later, Alexander joined Len Stuart in starting The Second City Entertainment Company, a TV and film production company. Their first production was the television show SCTV. After almost a decade of developing the entertainment company, Alexander and Stuart became owners of The Second City Chicago in 1985. Alexander has actively led The Second City in Canada and the US since then.

Alexander has produced or executive produced over 250 Second City revues in Canada and the United States. Over the past 42 years, The Second City has operated resident theater and/or improv training facilities at one time or another in Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Edmonton, London, Ontario, and Cleveland. Additionally, Alexander expanded The Second City's Training, Touring and Corporate Services divisions from niche offerings to boutique business lines in their own right. In February 2016 Alexander announced the opening of The Harold Ramis Film School in Chicago with its first term starting in September 2016.