Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter, playwright, and filmmaker. As a writer for stage, television, and film, he is recognized for his fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, and two WGA Awards, in addition to a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
Born in New York City, Sorkin developed a passion for writing at an early age. He rose to prominence as a writer-creator and showrunner of the television series Sports Night (1998–2000), The West Wing (1999–2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and The Newsroom (2012–2014). He is also known for his work on Broadway, including the plays A Few Good Men (1989), The Farnsworth Invention (2007), To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), and the revival of Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot (2023).
He wrote the film screenplays for A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995), and several biopics including Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Moneyball (2011), and Steve Jobs (2015). For writing The Social Network (2010), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He made his directorial film debut with Molly's Game (2017), followed by The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) and Being the Ricardos (2021).
Early life
Sorkin was born in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family, on June 9, 1961. He was raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had fought in World War II and went to college on the G.I. Bill; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. His paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). His older brother, Daniel, died at birth and Aaron has referred to himself as the "understudy."
For his bar mitzvah, Sorkin asked his rabbi to record the Hebrew passage rather than follow the usual Torah-study preparation, and learned it by ear; he later cited the episode as an early example of his ear for language.
Sorkin took an early interest in acting. During childhood, his parents took him to the theatre to see shows such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and That Championship Season. In the eighth grade, he played General Bullmoose in the musical Li'l Abner. He attended Scarsdale High School where he became involved in the drama and theatre club. At Scarsdale High, he served as vice president of the drama club in his junior and senior years, and graduated in 1979.
In 1979, Sorkin attended Syracuse University. In his freshman year, he failed a class that was a core requirement, which caused a setback because he wanted to be an actor, and the drama department did not allow students to take the stage until they completed the core classes. Determined to do better, he returned for his sophomore year, and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. Recalling the influence of theatre teacher Arthur Storch, Sorkin said: "Arthur's reputation as a director, and as a disciple of Lee Strasberg, was a big reason why a lot of us went to S.U. [Syracuse University]... 'You have the capacity to be so much better than you are', he started saying to me in September of my senior year. He was still saying it in May. On the last day of classes, he said it again, and I said, 'How?', and he answered, 'Dare to fail'. I've been coming through on his admonition ever since".
Career
1983–1990: Early work and breakthrough
Sorkin moved to New York City where he spent much of the 1980s as a struggling, sporadically employed actor who worked odd jobs, such as delivering singing telegrams, driving a limousine, touring Alabama with the children's theatre company Traveling Playhouse, handing out flyers promoting a hunting-and-fishing show, and bartending at Broadway's Palace Theatre. One weekend, while house-sitting for a friend, he found a typewriter, started typing, and "felt a phenomenal confidence and a kind of joy that [he] had never experienced before in [his] life".
He continued writing and eventually put together his first play, Removing All Doubt, which he sent to Arthur Storch, his former theatre teacher, who was impressed. In 1984, Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at Sorkin's alma mater, Syracuse University. After that, he wrote Hidden in This Picture which debuted Off-Off-Broadway at Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in 1988. The quality of his first two plays earned him a theatrical agent. Producer John A. McQuiggan saw the production of Hidden in This Picture and commissioned Sorkin to turn the one-act into a full-length play called Making Movies.
Sorkin was inspired to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men, from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a three-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. Deborah told Sorkin that she was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend a group of Marines who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre. When he returned home, he would transcribe the story and notes onto the computer, forming a basis from which he wrote many drafts for A Few Good Men.
In 1988, Sorkin sold the film rights for A Few Good Men to producer David Brown before it premiered, in a deal that was reportedly "well into six figures". Brown had read an article in The New York Times about Sorkin's one-act play Hidden in This Picture, and found out Sorkin had a play that was having Off Broadway readings. Brown produced A Few Good Men on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. It starred Tom Hulce and was directed by Don Scardino. After opening in late 1989, it ran for 497 performances. Sorkin continued writing Making Movies and in 1990 it debuted Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, produced by John McQuiggan, and directed by Don Scardino. Meanwhile, Brown was producing for TriStar Pictures, and tried to interest them in adapting A Few Good Men into a film, but his proposal was declined due to the lack of star actor involvement. Brown later received a phone call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment who was eager to make the film. Rob Reiner, a Castle Rock producing partner, opted to direct.
1991–1997: Writing for Castle Rock Entertainment
Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, where he befriended colleagues William Goldman and Rob Reiner, and met his future wife Julia Bingham, who was one of Castle Rock's business affairs lawyers. Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for A Few Good Men in his Manhattan apartment, learning the craft from a book about screenplay format. He then spent several months at the Los Angeles offices of Castle Rock, working on the script with Reiner. Goldman, who regularly worked under contract at Castle Rock, became his mentor and helped him to adapt his stage play into a screenplay. The film, directed by Reiner, starred Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon, and was produced by Brown. A Few Good Men was released in 1992 and was a box office success, grossing $243 million worldwide.
Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for the thriller Malice. Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant while Sorkin wrote the first two drafts. However, he had to leave the project to finish the script for A Few Good Men, so screenwriter Scott Frank stepped in and wrote two drafts of the Malice screenplay. When production on A Few Good Men was completed, Sorkin resumed working on Malice right through the final shooting script. Harold Becker directed the 1993 film, which…