# Steven Zaillian

Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay Schindler's List (1993) and has earned Oscar nominations for the films Awakenings, Gangs of New York, Moneyball and The Irishman. He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009 Austin Film Festival and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America 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.

## Early life

Steven Zaillian was born in Fresno, California, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. Zaillian is of Armenian descent. He attended Sonoma State University, graduated from San Francisco State University in 1975 with a degree in Cinema.

## Personal life

He lives in 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 Awakenings. His most notable work is the 1993 screenplay for the film Schindler's List, 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 32nd best of all time by IMDb, 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 Gangs of New York in 2002, and American Gangster in 2007. In 2007, in partnership with Mandate Pictures, he signed a deal with Columbia Pictures. Zaillian co-wrote the screenplay for Moneyball in 2011 with Aaron Sorkin. Zaillian also wrote the screenplay for the 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. His most recent work includes creating, directing, writing, and producing the 2016 Emmy-winning HBO miniseries The Night Of and writing the screenplay for the 2019 Netflix film The Irishman.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 1985 | The Falcon and the Snowman | No | Yes | No |
| 1990 | Awakenings | No | Yes | No |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | No | Yes | No |
| 1993 | Searching for Bobby Fischer | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1993 | Jack the Bear | No | Yes | No |
| 1994 | Clear and Present Danger | No | Yes | No |
| 1996 | Mission: Impossible | No | Story | No |
| 1998 | A Civil Action | Yes | Yes | Executive |
| 2001 | Hannibal | No | Yes | No |
| 2002 | Gangs of New York | No | Yes | No |
| 2005 | The Interpreter | No | Yes | No |
| 2006 | All the King's Men | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2007 | American Gangster | No | Yes | Executive |
| 2011 | Moneyball | No | Yes | No |
| 2011 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | No | Yes | Executive |
| 2014 | Exodus: Gods and Kings | No | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Red Sparrow | No | No | Yes |
| 2019 | The Irishman | No | Yes | No |
| 2021 | Those Who Wish Me Dead | No | No | Yes |

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Creator | Notes |
| 2016 | The Night Of | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2024 | Ripley | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |

### 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 (1977)
* Starhops (1978)

## Awards

| Year | Title | Award | Result |
| 1991 | Awakenings | Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 1991 | Awakenings | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Won |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Won |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay | Won |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Won |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay | Won |
| 1999 | A Civil Action | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2003 | Gangs of New York | Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2003 | Gangs of New York | BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2003 | Gangs of New York | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2008 | American Gangster | BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Won |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay | Won |
| 2012 | Moneyball | Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | Moneyball | AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2012 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2017 | The Night Of | Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film (Episode: "The Beach") | Won |
| 2017 | The Night Of | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series | Nominated |
| 2017 | The Night Of | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Episode: "The Beach") | Nominated |
| 2017 | The Night Of | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Episode: "The Call of the Wild") | Nominated |
| 2017 | The Night Of | Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | Critics' Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2020 | The Irishman | AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay | Nominated |
| 2024 | Ripley | Astra TV Award for Best Directing in a Limited Series or TV Movie | Nominated |
| 2024 | Ripley | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series | Nominated |
| 2024 | Ripley | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Won |
| 2024 | Ripley | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Nominated |