![Video thumbnail: Breaking Big Trevor Noah]()
Learn how Noah used painful life stories to create a unique voice on the comedy circuit.
Trevor Noah
![Video thumbnail: Breaking Big Danai Gurira]()
See how Tony Award-nominated Gurira made the leap from storyteller to Hollywood superstar.
Danai Gurira
Now Streaming
How did some of the world's most influential artists, innovators and leaders break big?
Why and how did some of the world's most influential artists, innovators, athletes and leaders break big? Talented men and women recount their most difficult, dramatic and serendipitous turning points. Emmy-winning journalist Carlos Watson hosts.
Why and how did some of the world's most influential artists, innovators, athletes and leaders break big? Talented men and women recount their most difficult, dramatic and serendipitous turning points. Emmy-winning journalist Carlos Watson hosts.
![Video thumbnail: Breaking Big Trevor Noah]()
Learn how Noah used painful life stories to create a unique voice on the comedy circuit.
Trevor Noah
![Video thumbnail: Breaking Big Danai Gurira]()
See how Tony Award-nominated Gurira made the leap from storyteller to Hollywood superstar.
Danai Gurira
Providing Support for PBS.org
Photos from Breaking Big
1/6
"Basketball, Chinese food, and hip-hop. Those were the things I leaned on. Those were the things that made sense to me."
OZY
2/6
"If you wait for people to tell you when it's your turn, you will never get it."
OZY
3/6
"Sometimes it's about a decision. 'This is who I am, this is what I do.' You have to be your own hero."
OZY
4/6
"The best thing to do is just get through it, play it, and roll the dice."
OZY
5/6
"It succeeded because of the attention that we pay to each person."
OZY
6/6
"Realizing that I don't have to apologize for myself and that I'm not a problem - that has been very freeing."
OZY
About the Show
Why and how did some of the world's most influential artists, innovators, athletes and leaders break big? Emmy-winning journalist, Carlos Watson, hosts as talented men and women recount their most difficult, dramatic, and serendipitous turning points.
"Breaking Big" asks: Why and how did some of the world's most influential artists, innovators, athletes and leadersbreak big? Stars ranging from Trevor Noah to Jason Aldean, Danai Gurira and many more, recount their most difficult, dramatic and serendipitous turning points, while renowned social psychologists connect the dots.
In "Breaking Big", OZY explores how some of the world’s most influential artists, innovators, athletes and leaders pushed, prodded and cajoled the big breaks that would make their careers. This series of 30-minute documentary films traces the unusual paths to success followed by twelve talented men and women: from country music superstar Jason Aldean and former FOX anchor Gretchen Carlson to Oscar-winning director Lee Daniels and chef and restauranteur Eddie Huang, who overcame nearly insurmountable obstacles and long odds to reach and reimagine their own potential and, ultimately, to break big.
Producers and Funders
Support for PBS.org provided by: