Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

, a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

and a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

for his screenplay ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

'' (1993) and has earned Oscar nominations for the films ''

Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film written by Steven Zaillian, directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare and Max ...

'', ''

Gangs of New York ''Gangs of New York'' is a 2002 American-Italian epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1928 book '' The Gangs of New York''. The fil ...

'', ''

Moneyball Moneyball or money ball may refer to: * '' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'', 2003 book by Michael Lewis ** ''Moneyball'' (film), 2011 film adaptation of the book * ''Moneyball'' (album), 2025 album by Dutch Interior * Sabermetrics ...

'' and '' The Irishman''. He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009

Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the c ...

and the

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement The Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement (also known as the Screen Laurel Award) is a lifetime achievement award given by the Writers Guild of America. It is given "to that member of the Guild who, in the opinion of the current Board of Dir ...

from the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

in 2011. Zaillian is the founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He also created, wrote and directed the limited series '' The Night Of'' (2016) and '' Ripley'' (2024), the latter for which he won a

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. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

and a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

Early life

Steven Zaillian was born in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. Zaillian is of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

descent. He attended

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

, graduated from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

in 1975 with a degree in Cinema.

Personal life

He lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with his wife, Elizabeth Zaillian; they have two sons together.

Career

Steven Zaillian is known for writing screenplays that often deal with tragedy and drama. Zaillian has written screenplays for many notable films. Zaillian wrote the screenplay for the 1990 film ''

''. His most notable work is the 1993 screenplay for the film ''

'', for which he won an Academy Award. The ''Schindler’s List'' screenplay was voted the 49th best screenplay of all time by the

Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 me ...

, the 32nd best of all time by

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

, and the 49th best by filmsite.org. Zaillian directed and wrote the 1993 film '' Searching for Bobby Fischer'', for which he earned critical and commercial acclaim. Zaillian also wrote and directed the 1998 film '' A Civil Action'' and wrote the screenplays for the films ''

'' in 2002, and ''American Gangster'' in 2007. In 2007, in partnership with Mandate Pictures, he signed a deal with

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

.. Zaillian co-wrote the screenplay for ''

'' in 2011 with

Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter, playwright and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television, and film, Sorkin is recognized f ...

. Zaillian also wrote the screenplay for the 2011 film ''

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (original title in ) is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in 2005, translated into English in 2008, and became an international bestseller. ''T ...

''. His most recent work includes creating, directing, writing, and producing the 2016 Emmy-winning

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

miniseries '' The Night Of'' and writing the screenplay for the 2019

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film '' The Irishman''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Executive producer only

* '' Welcome to the Rileys'' (2010) * '' The Cold Light of Day'' (2012) * '' The Current War'' (2017) * '' My Dinner with Hervé'' (2018)

Editor

* '' Breaker! Breaker!'' (1977) * ''

Kingdom of the Spiders ''Kingdom of the Spiders'' is a 1977 American science fiction horror film directed by John "Bud" Cardos and produced by Igo Kantor and Jeffrey M. Sneller. The screenplay is credited to Richard Robinson and Alan Caillou, from an original sto ...

'' (1977) * '' Starhops'' (1978)

Awards

References

External links

* *
Writings at One for the Table
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaillian, Steven 1953 births Living people American film editors Film producers from California American male screenwriters Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award winners Directors Guild of America Award winners American writers of Armenian descent Writers from Fresno, California San Francisco State University alumni Primetime Emmy Award winners Writers Guild of America Award winners Film directors from California Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners Screenwriters from California 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers