Paris, 31 May, 2016 – Shonda Rhimes, creator and writer of groundbreaking hit shows and one of the most celebrated and influential producers in Hollywood, has been named  MIPCOM 2016 Personality of the Year. The internationally respected Rhimes, whose TV credits include ABC Studios’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Scandal,’ ‘Private Practice,’ ‘How to Get Away with Murder,’ and ‘The Catch ’ will be honoured at a gala dinner for leading international television executives at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, on Wednesday 19 October and will be featured at a Media Mastermind Session in the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals.

“Shonda Rhimes is an inspiring voice, a global creative icon and a role model in the industry,” comments Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed MIDEM, organiser of MIPCOM. “In recognition of her outstanding influence on the entertainment industry, we are honoured to welcome her to Cannes as the MIPCOM 2016 Personality of the Year.”

“I have always been amazed by the power and global reach of television,” said Rhimes. “ It is an incredible feeling to know that audiences around the world have enjoyed the shows and characters that I have created and I couldn’t be more honored to receive the MIPCOM Personality of the Year award.”

Rhimes’ slate of shows is distributed by Disney Media Distribution to over 250 territories in 67 languages. Through her production company Shondaland, she has dominated Thursday nights on US network ABC. Her next project with ABC Studios is “Still Star-Crossed” – a period drama which picks up where the famous story of Romeo and Juliet ends, charting the treachery, palace intrigue and ill-fated romances of the Montagues and Capulets in the wake of the young lovers’ tragic fate.

For her collective work on her various shows, Rhimes is the recipient of a Golden Globe for Outstanding Television Drama, Peabody Award, Television Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America, Writers Guild Award for Best New Series, GLAAD Media Award, as well as numerous AFI Awards for Television Program of the Year and an unprecedented 6 NAACP Image Awards for Writing for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series plus 8 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Drama Series.

Rhimes has twice been included in TIME Magazine’s 100 list of the most influential people along with Fortune Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business," andGlamour Magazine 's "Women of the Year."  In 2013, Rhimes was appointed by President Obama to serve as Trustee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  In 2014, Rhimes, along with producing partner Betsy Beers, received the Directors Guild of America’s prestigious Diversity Award.  Rhimes was additionally a 2014 recipient of the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard and the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award from The Hollywood Reporter .  In 2015, Rhimes was awarded the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement from the Writers Guild of America, West, as well as inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame.  She was additionally honored with the Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Council, the Eleanor Roosevelt Global Women’s Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation and 2016 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild.

In November of 2015, Rhimes released her first book, “Year of Yes” from Simon & Schuster, which was instantly a New York Times bestseller.

Shonda Rhimes joins a prestigious list of MIPCOM Personalities of the Year that includes Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Ted Turner, Pierre Lescure, Anne Sweeney, Leslie Moonves, Sumner Redstone and Jeffrey Katzenberg. The 32nd annual MIPCOM, the world's entertainment content market, will be held on 17-20 October 2016 at the Palais des Festivals, in Cannes, France.