Life and Career
He was born Philip Davis Guggenheim in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Marion Davis (née Streett) and film director and producer Charles Guggenheim. His father was Jewish and his mother was Christian. He graduated from The Potomac School (McLean, Virginia) in 1979, from Sidwell Friends School in 1982, and later moved on to Brown University, where he graduated in 1986.
Guggenheim joined the crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a producer and director for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Guggenheim directed the episodes "Deep Water", "Reconnoitering the Rim", "Plague" and "Sold Under Sin". Guggenheim left the crew at the end of the first season.
He directed the pilot episode of The Unit.
He directed and produced An Inconvenient Truth, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. This documentary featured Al Gore and his international slideshow on global warming. Guggenheim set out to bring light to a subject that many people had brushed off as nothing more than a government hoax.
He directed Barack Obama's biographical film, which aired during the Democratic National Convention, and Obama's infomercial, which was broadcast on 29 October 2008. In 2012, he released The Road We've Traveled, a 17-minute short film on the president.
Davis directed and was an executive producer of the 2009 pilot for Melrose Place. His brother-in-law Andrew Shue starred on the 1990s version of the series.
In 2008, he released It Might Get Loud, a documentary that glimpses into the lives of guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White.
His 2010 documentary Waiting for "Superman", a film about the failures of American public education sparked controversy and debate. Guggenheim knew his film would lead to this and said, "I know people will say this movie is anti-this or pro-that. But it really is all about families trying to find great schools". This film received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Its public release was in September 2010.
His documentary film about the band U2, From the Sky Down, opened the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival in September.
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