Wolf has also authored four books. The first, nonfiction Law & Order: Crime Scenes, is a companion to the Law & Order television series.[2]The Intercept, The Execution and The Ultimatum are volumes in a thriller series with N.Y.P.D.Detective Jeremy Fisk.[3]
Wolf was born in New York City, the son of Marie G. (née Gaffney), a homemaker, and George Wolf, an advertising executive.[4] His father was Jewish, and his mother was Roman Catholic of Irish descent.
Wolf worked as an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles creating commercials for Crest toothpaste, all the while writing screenplays in the hopes of a film career. It was at this time that he briefly collaborated on a screenplay with Oliver Stone, who was a struggling screenwriter at the time. He moved to Los Angeles, after a few years and had three screenplays produced; one of these films, Masquerade (1988) starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly, was well received. He started his television career as a staff writer on Hill Street Blues and was nominated for his first Emmy for an episode entitled "What Are Friends For?", on which he was the only writer. He moved from there to Miami Vice, where he was a supervising producer.[citation needed]
Wolf's Law & Order, which ran from 1990 to 2010, tied Gunsmoke for the longest-running dramatic show in television history, making it one of television's most successful franchises. It has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the current Law & Order drama series from Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – and did so for the four that have been cancelled – Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order: UK, and Law & Order: Los Angeles.[6] Along with Kevin Arkadie, he co-created the police drama, New York Undercover which ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company Network from 1994 to 1998. He also served as Executive Producer to the series. He was the creator and executive producer of NBC's courtroom reality series Crime & Punishment, which chronicled real-life cases prosecuted by the San Diego District Attorney’s office. Many of Wolf's series have intersected with the Law & Order franchise in some fashion, and Law & Order itself has been adapted into several foreign versions. Wolf's company also produced Twin Towers, the 2003 Academy Award-winning Short Documentary about two brothers, one a policeman and the other a fireman, who lost their lives in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. Wolf was also involved with the production of a theatrical documentary about the popular rock group The Doors, titled When You're Strange.[citation needed]
Wolf developed Chicago Fire, a drama about a group of men and women working at the Chicago Fire Department. The series was picked up by NBC in May 2012,[7] and premiered on October 10, 2012, with meek numbers in the ratings and minimal reviews in the first few weeks before spiking to NBC's #2 scripted drama series, under Revolution.[8] In March 2013, NBC announced intentions for a spin-off of Chicago Fire, revolving around the Chicago Police Department.[9]Derek Haas, Michael W. Brandt, and Matt Olmstead are executive producers under Wolf.[10] Afterwards, Wolf developed the unscripted show Cold Justice, a documentary drama, for TNT.[11]
In addition to having been a classmate of former U.S. President George W. Bush, Wolf was an employer of Fred Thompson, who sought the Republican nomination for President in 2008 with help of the national attention he gained playing the district attorney on Law & Order. Wolf supported Thompson in his bid, as did Bush. It was reported that Wolf contributed to Thompson's campaign before he officially announced he was running.[14]
Wolf's future projects for NBC are an American adaption of the United Kingdom psychological legal drama series Injustice[15] as well as a drama series revolving around a satanic cult, tentatively titled The Church. Wolf is writing the latter project with Howard Franklin.[16][17] Wolf also has an untitled pilot about an insurance investigator on USA Network.[18]
With Wolf pursuing projects other than Law & Order, he and current Law & Order: Special Victims Unit show runner/executive producer Warren Leight sometimes discuss the future of the Law & Order franchise and revitalizing it; Leight commenting "(Dick Wolf and I) sometimes talk in general terms of where (the franchise) could go. I'm curious to see if there's another iteration somewhere down the line."[19]