Eric R. Roth (born March 22, 1945) is an American
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
. He has been nominated six times for the
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, music ...
— for ''
Forrest Gump'' (1994), ''
The Insider'' (1999), ''
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
'' (2005), ''
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), ''
A Star Is Born'' (2018), and ''
Dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
'' (2021) — winning for ''Forrest Gump''. He also worked on the screenplays for the
Oscar-nominated films ''
Ali'' (2001) and ''
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2011), as well as
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
's upcoming film ''
Killers of the Flower Moon''.
Early life and education
Roth was born in
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, into a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family, the son of Miriam "Mimi", a teacher, studio executive, and radio writer, and Leon Roth, a university teacher and film producer.
He grew up in
Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford–Stuyvesant (), colloquially known as Bed–Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford–Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north (bordering Williamsburg), Classon A ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
He grew up boxing and would credit some of his later successes to habits learned from the sport.
Roth went to college at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...
and graduated in 1966. He later attended
UCLA Film School as part of the class of 1973.
Career
Roth won the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...
for
Best Adapted Screenplay
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
for ''
Forrest Gump''. He is known for writing his scripts in a
DOS program without Internet access, as well as distributing the scripts only in hard copy formats.
He followed his Academy Award win by co-writing screenplays for several Oscar-nominated films, including ''
The Insider'', ''
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
'', ''
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', and ''
A Star Is Born''. While writing ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', he lost both of his parents, and as a result views the film as "...my most personal movie."
Personal life
Roth lives in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. He has five children, including documentary filmmaker
Vanessa Roth, and filmmakers Geoffrey Roth and Alec Roth; and six grandchildren.
Roth was one of the investors defrauded by
Bernard Madoff in a
Ponzi Scheme via
Stanley Chais.
He stated that his losses were heavy and he has lost his retirement money, although the full extent is unknown. As a result of the fraud and the associated losses, Roth sued the estate of Chais, who died on September 26, 2010.
Filmography
Film
As writer
As producer
*
Television
Accolades
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
British Academy Film Awards
Critics' Choice Movie Awards
The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writt ...
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
s
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s
Producers Guild of America Award
Satellite Awards
Writers Guild of America Awards
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Eric
1945 births
21st-century American Jews
American male screenwriters
Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
Hugo Award-winning writers
Jewish American screenwriters
Living people
People associated with the Madoff investment scandal
Screenwriters from New York (state)
UCLA Film School alumni
University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
Writers from New York City
Writers Guild of America Award winners