Biography

Jonathan is an award-winning, multi-talented producer, director and executive best known for developing and executive producing the pilot for MTV's Catfish: The TV Show while working as the SVP of Creative Affairs for Relativity Television. Karsh served as an instrumental force at Relativity Television since its inception in 2008. He is a versatile producer with the background of a filmmaker having won the Audience Award and Best Director Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival for his directorial debut, My Flesh and Blood. The documentary was broadcast by HBO and won a News and Documentary Emmy Award the following year. Karsh later made documentary films for MTV and AMC, and produced reality shows for CBS, ABC, and ABC Family. Since the age of 18 he has showcased his talents as a host for multiple programs. In 2007, Karsh starred in his biggest hosting role to date for CBS's Kid Nation, a show he helped to develop and produce. In 2015, Karsh founded his own production company, Shiny Objects Entertainment, a company with a focus on high quality alternative programming across cable and digital platforms.

- IMDb mini biography by: McNulty

Jonathan Karsh is the winner of the Audience Award and Best Director Award from the 2003 Sundance Film Festival for his directorial debut - the highly acclaimed documentary "My Flesh and Blood" that aired on HBO in 2004. The film went on to win the Emmy for Best Documentary, and the top awards at the Amsterdam International Film Festival and Prague International Film Festival.

Karsh later made documentary films for MTV and AMC, and produced reality shows for CBS, ABC, and ABC Family.

Karsh was recently tapped to host the new CBS reality show "Kid Nation" which will air in the fall of 2007.

- IMDb mini biography by: rtommy

Emmy Award-winning host Jonathan Karsh helped develop "Kid Nation" and serves as the show's host, as well as its supervising producer.

In 2003, Karsh won both the Best Director Award and Audience Award from the Sundance Film Festival for his directorial debut, "My Flesh and Blood." The documentary was broadcast on HBO and won a News and Documentary Emmy Award the following year. Hailed by The New York Times as "an unforgettable experience," the film won audience awards and critics awards from film festivals around the world.

Since then, Karsh directed, produced and shot MTV's "True Life" series and directed a film for AMC. He served as the co-executive producer for the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" hurricane specials on ABC.

Prior to his work behind the camera, Karsh began hosting when he was 18 years old. He started his career as co-host of a weekly show on KXTV-TV in his hometown of Sacramento, Calif. From there, he became the youngest correspondent for the national news show "Channel One" and the syndicated magazine show "American Journal." Later, he hosted the Discovery Channel cooking show "Epicurious" and the nightly entertainment program "Evening Magazine" on KPIX-TV, the CBS owned station in San Francisco.

A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Karsh lives in Los Angeles with his wife and 1-year-old daughter.

- IMDb mini biography by: CBS