Graham Moore (born October 18, 1981) is an American screenwriter, author and director known for his 2010 novel '' The Sherlockian'', as well as his screenplay for the historical film ''

The Imitation Game ''The Imitation Game'' is a 2014 American historical drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, based on the 1983 biography '' Alan Turing: The Enigma'' by Andrew Hodges. The film's title quotes the name of the game c ...

'', which topped the 2011

Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

for screenplays and won the 2014

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include st ...

(awarded February 2015).

Early life and family

Moore was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and raised on the city's north side — "the son of two lawyers who divorced and then married two other lawyers." Moore's father, Gary Moore, is an insurance

defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ju ...

and his mother, Susan Sher (née Steiner), works for the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. His mother was formerly the City of Chicago's chief lawyer and First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

. Moore's parents divorced when he was young. Moore's stepfather is

Cook County Circuit Court The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 24 judicial circuits in Illinois as well as one of the largest unified court systems in the United States — second only in size to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County since that court ...

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Neil Cohen. Raised Jewish, Moore graduated from the

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab or Lab Schools and abbreviated as UCLS though the high school is nicknamed U-High) is a private, co-educational day Pre-K and K-12 school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated w ...

in 1999 and received a bachelor of arts degree in religious history in 2003 from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. During his Academy Award acceptance speech in February 2015, Moore said that he had attempted suicide when he was 16. Moore lives in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Moore began his writing career working with childhood friend Ben Epstein, who was attending

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

in New York City. One of his earliest Hollywood jobs was on the writing staff of the short-lived television series ''

10 Things I Hate About You ''10 Things I Hate About You'' is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirs ...

''. Moore's first book, ''The Sherlockian,'' was on the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. His adapted screenplay for the 2014 film ''

'', based on the biography '' Alan Turing: The Enigma'' by

Andrew Hodges Andrew Philip Hodges (; born 1949) is a British mathematician, author and emeritus senior research fellow at Wadham College, Oxford. Education Hodges was born in London in 1949 and educated at Birkbeck, University of London where he was awarded ...

, topped the 2011 ''Black List'' of the best unproduced scripts in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

. The script earned Moore numerous nominations, including the 2014

Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Winners and nominees 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s See also * Ac ...

, and ultimately won the 2014

at the

87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

(awarded February 2015). Moore's second book, ''The Last Days of Night'', was published by Random House on August 16, 2016. Set in 1888 New York City, the novel focuses on the heated rivalry between

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

and

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...

during the advent of electricity and is told through the eyes of Westinghouse's attorney, Paul Cravath. Moore has adapted the screenplay for ''The Last Days of Night'' to be directed by Oscar-nominated director of ''The Imitation Game'' Morten Tyldum. Moore will write, direct, and produce the sci-fi thriller ''Naked Is the Best Disguise'' for Studio 8. Moore's first film as director, '' The Outfit'', premiered at the

72nd Berlin International Film Festival The 72nd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale took place from 10 to 20 February 2022 in person. On 15 December 2021 the first film of the festival was announced. The festival opened with François Ozon's drama ...

on February 14, 2022. It received positive reviews.

Novels

*'' The Sherlockian'' (2010), published by Twelve *''The Last Days of Night'' (August 16, 2016), published by Penguin Random House *''The Holdout'' (February 18, 2020), published by Random House

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Graham 1981 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American male screenwriters American audio engineers American television writers American mystery novelists Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners Columbia College (New York) alumni Jewish American writers Writers Guild of America Award winners Writers from Chicago American male television writers University of Chicago Laboratory Schools alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois Screenwriters from Illinois Engineers from Illinois 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American Jews