Shonda Rhimes is an American screenwriter, director and producer. She is best known as the creator, Head Writer, and executive producer of television series Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice. In May 2007, she was named one of Time magazine's 100 Time 100 people who help shape the world .

Growing up with her mother (professor), father (university administrator) and five siblings in Park Forest South, Illinois, Shonda Rhimes exhibited an early affinity toward storytelling. . Rhimes has said that her time spent as a candy striper while in high school sparked an interest in hospital environments .

Rhimes attended Marian Catholic High School, Dartmouth College and earned a bachelor's degree. At Dartmouth College she divided her time between fiction and directing and performing in plays. As a Dartmouth alumna, Rhimes often peppers the scripts with references to the college. After college, she relocated to San Francisco, CA with an older sibling and took a job in advertising to pay the bills. But her desire to create overtook her need for financial stability, and she headed for Los Angeles to attend USC and study screenwriting . There, she quickly rose to the top of her class and earned the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship Award .. She earned a master of fine arts from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television .