Graham John Yost (born September 5, 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film and television screenwriter. His best-known works are the films ''

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quant ...

'', '' Broken Arrow'', and '' Hard Rain'' and the TV series '' Justified''.

Early life, family and education

Yost was born in

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

in the

Toronto metropolitan area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater ...

. He is the son of Canadian television personality

Elwy Yost Elwy McMurran Yost, (July 10, 1925 – July 21, 2011) was a Canadian television host, best known for hosting CBC Television's weekday '' Passport to Adventure'' series from 1965 to 1967, TVOntario's weekday ''Magic Shadows'', from 1974 until t ...

, the longtime host of the public broadcaster

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

's ''

Saturday Night at the Movies ''Saturday Night at the Movies'' was a weekly television series on TVOntario, the public educational television network in Ontario, Canada. The series presented classic movies, followed by interviews and feature segments with directors, actors ...

''. He graduated from the University of Toronto Schools and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Career

Yost wrote for the TV sitcom ''

Herman's Head ''Herman's Head'' is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from September 8, 1991, until April 21, 1994. The series was created by Andy Guerdat and Steve Kreinberg, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Touch ...

'' and the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers''. In 2002, he created the television drama series ''

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, althou ...

''. He created the short-lived NBC drama ''

Raines ''Raines'' is a seven-episode American police procedural television show starring Jeff Goldblum as a police detective who hallucinates the victims whose murders he is investigating. Created by Graham Yost, the series was short-lived, airing ...

'' (2007). Yost teamed with

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

, along with two of his fellow ''Boomtown'' writers Michelle Ashford and Larry Andries, to write and direct episodes of the HBO miniseries '' The Pacific''. Yost is the creator and executive producer of the FX series '' Justified''. He was an executive producer on the FX show ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American period spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also serve as showrunners a ...

''. In 2016, he took over as head writer and executive producer of the

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

series '' Sneaky Pete''. In May 2014, it was reported that Yost would develop a project for WGN America. Based on the

Alex Kershaw Alex Kershaw (born 1966) is an English journalist, public speaker and the author of several best-selling books, including ''The Liberator'', ''The First Wave'', ''The Bedford Boys'' and '' The Longest Winter''. Early life Born in York, England ...

book ''Avenue of Spies'', it would be set in Nazi-occupied Paris at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Awards and nominations

Yost won

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s for his involvement in the miniseries ''From the Earth to the Moon'' and ''The Pacific'', which was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He also won a Golden Globe for his work on the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers'', for which he was one of the writers.

Credits

*'' Hey Dude'' (1989–1991) (story editor; wrote 13 episodes) *''

'' (1991) (wrote "The Last Boy Scout") *'' The Powers That Be'' (1992–1993) (4 episodes) *''

'' (1994) (writer) *'' Broken Arrow'' (1996) (written by) *'' Speed 2: Cruise Control'' (1997) (characters) *'' Firestorm'' (1998) (rewrite) *'' Hard Rain'' (1998) (written by) *'' From the Earth to the Moon'' (1998) (supervising producer; wrote 2 episodes and directed "Spider") *''Challenger'' (2000) (writer) *'' Mission to Mars'' (2000) (screenplay) *''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'' (2001) (uncredited co-writing) *'' Band of Brothers'' (2001) (wrote 2 episodes) *''

The Last Castle ''The Last Castle'' is a 2001 American action drama film directed by Rod Lurie, starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Delroy Lindo. The film portrays a struggle between inmates and the warden of a military prison, based o ...

'' (2001) (screenplay) *'' Young Arthur'' (2002) (writer) *''

'' (2002–2003) (series creator and executive producer; wrote 6 episodes) *'' Summerland'' (2004) (wrote "Skipping School") *''Sixty Minute Man'' (2006) (writer) *''

'' (2007) (series creator and executive producer; wrote "Pilot") *'' The Pacific'' (2010) (co-executive producer; directed and co-wrote "Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika" with Robert Schenkkan) *'' Justified'' (2010–2015) (series creator and executive producer; wrote 12 episodes) *''

Falling Skies ''Falling Skies'' is an American science fiction television series set in a post-apocalyptic era, created by Robert Rodat and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. The series stars Noah Wyle as Tom Mason, a former history professor who bec ...

'' (2011) (executive producer; wrote "The Armory") *''

'' (2013–2018) (executive producer) *'' Sneaky Pete'' (2015–2018) (executive producer; wrote 7 episodes) *''

The Grizzlies ''The Grizzlies'' is a 2018 Canadian sports drama film, directed by Miranda de Pencier. Based on a true story, the film depicts a youth lacrosse team that was set up to help combat an onslaught of youth suicide in the community of Kugluktuk, Nu ...

'' (2018) (writer) *'' Slow Horses'' (2022) (executive producer)

References

External links

*
Graham Yost
at filmreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Yost, Graham 1959 births Living people Canadian male screenwriters People from Etobicoke Writers from Toronto Trinity College (Canada) alumni University of Toronto alumni Canadian television writers Canadian television producers Showrunners 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers