MEDFORD, MA/LOS ANGELES - The third annual P.T. Barnum Awards, honoring the accomplishments of Tufts University graduates in the arts and entertainment fields, have announced this year's recipients. They are Steve Tisch (A71), Ben Silverman (A92), and Seamus Blackley (A90), each of whom will receive a bronze statuette of Jumbo the Elephant in ceremonies on Thursday evening, June 7 at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) headquarters in Century City, California.

The awards are named for Phineas T. Barnum, legendary American showman and founder of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, who was a long-time supporter of Tufts since its inception in 1848. Barnum's Jumbo the Elephant serves as the university's mascot to this day.

"As one of the nation's most esteemed liberal arts universities, Tufts is not necessarily known for cultivating students for careers in the arts and entertainment fields," noted Julie Dobrow, director of Tufts' Communications and Media Studies Program, a co-founder and co-sponsor of the awards. "We're not a journalism school or a film school. We offer students a strong liberal arts-based media education. A quick scan of our many graduates who've achieved success in these areas shows that what we are doing works."

In 2006, Meredith Vieira (J75) of The Today Show received an award and also hosted the ceremonies in New York. Other recipients included former The Late Show with David Letterman producer Rob Burnett (A84), actor Daniel Hedaya (A62), choreographer Donald Byrd (A73), and lighting designer Mary-Louise Geiger (A79).

In 2005, the P.T. Barnum Awards' inaugural year, OC star Peter Gallagher (A77), Walden Media CEO Cary Granat (A90), Warner Brothers Films' VP Courtenay Valenti (J85), and CAA theatrical agent Jon Levin (A75) received awards in Los Angeles ceremonies. Bollywood actress Amisha Patel (J97) was honored separately in Mumbai, India.

Recipient Bios

Steve Tisch produced 1994’s Academy Award Winning Best Picture Forrest Gump and launched Tom Cruise’s career with the sleeper hit Risky Business in 1983. He also served as Executive Producer of Gramercy Pictures Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and the critically-acclaimed American
History X.

Tisch was recently named Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants. Mr. Tisch is a partner in Escape Artists, a production company formed in 2001 and based at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Escape Artists project The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith and Thandie Newton, was released on December 15, 2006.

In addition, he has also contributed his time and financial resources to such organizations as the ERAS Center and is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Board of Trustees of The Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, Sundance Institute, The American Cinematheque and the Board of Trustees of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Cancer Center at Duke University.


Ben Silverman is the founder and CEO of Reveille, a leading independent television production and distribution company. Mr. Silverman is the executive producer of NBC’s Emmy Award-winning comedy hit The Office, which has also received two Television Critics Association Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Mr. Silverman also serves as executive producer of ABC’s comedy mega-hit Ugly Betty, winner of two Golden Globe Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and NBC’s exciting new game show, Identity, which premiered in December 2006. In addition, he is the co-creator and executive producer of the hit reality show The Biggest Loser on NBC.

Mr. Silverman was recently appointed co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC-Universal Media Studios


Seamus Blackley is an agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a talent and literary agency based in Los Angeles. Blackley’s role is to help guide and execute CAA’s strategy for representing game creators in a full-service manner – securing and negotiating deals with game publishers, with film and television studios, and with networks, and building and servicing client development companies to give game designers greater creative and financial control.

The top-selling game designer joined Microsoft in 1999 and piloted the creation of the Xbox game platform. While at Microsoft, the former physicist and DreamWorks Interactive executive producer wrote the initial proposal for Xbox, assembled and led the team behind the technical design and philosophy for the platform, and established and nurtured support for Xbox within the game development community worldwide.

After Microsoft, Blackley and a group of his Xbox business partners launched Capital Entertainment Group (CEG), a game production company that aimed to produce and finance games in partnership with game developers and publishers.