James Lipton Retiring From 'Inside the Actors Studio'

The longtime host and executive producer of the long-running interview series will hand over the reins to a rotating list of guest hosts as the show moves from Bravo to Ovation TV.

James Lipton, the creator of Inside the Actors Studio, is stepping down from his hosting role on the long-running series.

Lipton has served as host of the interview program, which features sit-downs with some of the most powerful stars in Hollywood in front of the Actors Studio MFA program at Pace University, since 1994. The show has welcomed such esteemed guests as Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Barbra Streisand, James Gandolfini and many, many more.

The series ran for 23 years on Bravo and will move in fall 2019 to Ovation TV, where a rotating panel of guest hosts will conduct the interviews.

“It’s very gratifying to see the legacy of Inside the Actors Studio being carried forward for a new generation to appreciate and enjoy,” Lipton said Monday in a statement. “I made a vow early on that we would not deal in gossip — only in craft, and Ovation, as a network dedicated to the arts, will continue that tradition with the next seasons of the series. I’m excited to see the new hosts engage with the guests and students and continue to entertain viewers in the U.S. and around the world.”

“James Lipton’s future involvement will be determined based on his availability," Scott Woodward, executive vp programming and production at Ovation, tells The Hollywood Reporter. "But we’d love to have him involved.”

Lipton and his show, on which he was also a writer and executive producer, earned 20 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning in 2013 for outstanding informational series or special.