- Born
- Birth nameSteven Ernest Bernard Zaillian
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Steven Zaillian was born on January 30, 1953 in Fresno, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), A Civil Action (1998) and The Irishman (2019). He is married to Elizabeth Zaillian. They have two children.
- SpouseElizabeth Zaillian(? - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenAnthony James Zaillian
- ParentsJim ZaillianVina Zaillian
- RelativesMarcia Ann Zaillian(Sibling)
- A veteran go-to script doctor in the industry, Steven Zaillian has contributed to screenplays uncredited on a number of projects over the years. They include Patriot Games (1992), Crimson Tide (1995), Twister (1996), Primal Fear (1996), Amistad (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Black Hawk Down (2001), Road to Perdition (2002) and Body of Lies (2008). He was also called upon in post-production to rewrite some scenes for re-shoots for Salt (2010).
- Wrote four screenplays for feature films nominated for the 'Best Picture' Academy Award: Awakenings (1990), Schindler's List (1993), Gangs of New York (2002) and Moneyball (2011). Of those, Schindler's List (1993) won 'Best Picture' and earned Zaillian an Academy Award for 'Best Adapted Screenplay'.
- Is of Armenian descent.
- Directed one Academy Award - nominated performance: Robert Duvall in A Civil Action (1998).
- Graduated from San Francisco State University in 1975 with a degree in Cinema.
- The similarity between the big directors I've worked with is that they allow the writer to find a way of doing what they want done without saying 'do it this way.' They describe what they want, then let the writer figure out a way to do it.
- I find that most of my scripts have a lot more scenes than most films, so the average movie might have 100 scenes, my average script has 300 scenes.
- People who would go to an arthouse cinema and watch a Swedish movie and read subtitles... it's a small percentage.
- I have no problem with anyone being precise about small things.
- I'm not one of those people who writes long soliloquies.
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