Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 for his screenplay for Schindler's List

Schindler's List

Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...

and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings

Awakenings

Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir Awakenings. It tells the true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as American Malcolm Sayer and portrayed by Robin Williams who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa...

and Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...

. The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 called him "the most artful and subtle screenwriter Hollywood has had since Robert Towne

Robert Towne

Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...

."

Zaillian was born in Fresno

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

, California, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. He attended Sonoma State University

Sonoma State University

Sonoma State University is a public, coeducational business and liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system. The main campus is located in Rohnert Park, California, United States and lies approximately south of Santa Rosa and north of San Francisco...

, graduated from San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...

 and lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film	Year	Director	Oscar wins	Oscar nominations	Notes
	1985
Awakenings Awakenings Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir Awakenings. It tells the true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as American Malcolm Sayer and portrayed by Robin Williams who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa...	1990			3	nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Schindler's List Schindler's List Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...	1993		7	9	won Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Searching for Bobby Fischer Searching for Bobby Fischer Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc. Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian...	1993	Zaillian		1	directorial debut, also wrote
Jack the Bear Jack the Bear Jack the Bear is a 1993 American drama film directed by Marshall Herskovitz, written by Steven Zaillian based on the novel by Dan McCall, and starring Danny DeVito.-Plot:...	1993				screenplay
Clear and Present Danger Clear and Present Danger (film) Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. It is a subsequent release to the 1992 film Patriot Games, which in itself is a subsequent release to the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October.It is the last film to feature Harrison...	1994				screenplay
Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible (film) Mission: Impossible is a 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Following on from the television series of the same name, the plot follows a new agent, Ethan Hunt and his mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire...	1996				story
	1998	Zaillian		2	directed and wrote
Hannibal Hannibal (film) Hannibal is a 2001 psychological thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter...	2001				re-wrote screenplay by David Mamet David Mamet David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
Gangs of New York Gangs of New York Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...	2002			10	nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with Jay Cocks Jay Cocks Jay Cocks is a film critic and motion picture screenwriter.He is a graduate of Kenyon College. He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before moving into film writing....  and Kenneth Lonergan Kenneth Lonergan Kenneth Lonergan is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director.-Background and education:Born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, Lonergan began writing in high school at the Walden School .His first play, The Rennings Children, was chosen for the Young Playwright's Festival in...
	2005				screenplay with Scott Frank Scott Frank Scott Frank is an American screenwriter & director.- Filmography :*Plain Clothes *Dead Again *Little Man Tate *Malice *Get Shorty...
All the King's Men All the King's Men (2006 film) All the King's Men is a 2006 film adaptation of the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. It was directed by Steven Zaillian, who also produced and scripted....	2006	Zaillian			directed and wrote
American Gangster	2007			2	wrote and produced
Moneyball Moneyball (film) Moneyball is a 2011 biographical sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film is based on Michael Lewis' 2003 book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to...	2011				screenplay with Aaron Sorkin Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
	2011				screenplay
					screenplay
As She Climbed Across the Table		(in negotiations)			production
UBIK					production

External links

• Writings at One for the Table