Art Directors/Set Decorators
James Yarnell
James Yarnell grew up in England, where he earned a B.A. (Hons) degree in 3 Dimensional Design. In 1995 he came to the U.S., where he found work as a production assistant on Dallas. This led to work on various television shows. He eventually began working with the renowned Roy Christopher and Bruce Ryan. Today, Yarnell works as a production designer; he has earned multiple Primetime Emmy nominations, and in 2009 won an Emmy for the art direction on American Idol. Yarnell is currently the production designer of Dancing with the Stars, and American Idol. He has served on the Art Directors/Set Decorators Peer Group Executive Committee for three years and is honored to serve on the Television Academy’s Board of Governors.
Leslie Frankenheimer
Leslie Frankenheimer is a set decorator and four-time Primetime Emmy Award winner: for Carnivale (HB0), James Dean (TNT), Buddy Faro (CBS) and Max Headroom (ABC). Before transitioning to television, she worked on films with such luminaries as Ridley Scott, Francis Ford Coppola and John Landis. She attended UCLA, New York School of Interior Design and Art Center College of Design, majoring in space design. Prior to becoming a set decorator, she worked for A.C. Martin and Assoc. and Morganelli-Hume and Assoc., both architectural engineering firms. Frankenheimer has served on the Peer Group Executive Committee for Art Directors/Set Decorators, the Set Decorators Society of America and as co-chair of the Community Outreach Committee. She also serves on the executive board for IATSE Local 44 representing the set decorators. A fourth-generation Los Angeleno, she and her husband, John Frankenheimer, an entertainment lawyer and co-chair of Loeb & Loeb LLC, have two wonderful adult children, Erin and Sean, both of whom are working in the entertainment industry.
