Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin Bio

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter, playwright, and filmmaker whose work has shaped television, film, and Broadway for more than three decades. He is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue, extended monologues, and the storytelling technique known as the “walk and talk,” often developed in collaboration with director Thomas Schlamme. Over the course of his career, Sorkin has earned 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. He has also made a successful transition from writer to film director, helming three feature films in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Early Life and Background

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin was born on June 9, 1961, in Manhattan, New York City, and raised in the suburb of Scarsdale. He grew up in a Jewish family; his mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had served in World War II and attended college on the G.I. Bill. His older sister and brother both became lawyers, and his paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Sorkin has often referred to himself as an “understudy” in his family, a reflection of an older brother, Daniel, who died at birth.

Sorkin developed an early passion for acting and the theatre. His parents took him to Broadway shows such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and That Championship Season, and in the eighth grade he played General Bullmoose in the musical Li’l Abner. He attended Scarsdale High School, where he joined the drama and theatre club and served as vice president of the drama club in his junior and senior years, graduating in 1979.

In 1979, Sorkin enrolled at Syracuse University. After failing a core class in his freshman year, he rededicated himself to his studies and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. He frequently cited the influence of his theatre teacher Arthur Storch, whose parting advice, “Dare to fail,” became a guiding principle in Sorkin’s writing life.

Path to Screenwriter

After college, Sorkin moved to New York City, where he spent much of the 1980s as a struggling actor working odd jobs that included delivering singing telegrams, driving a limousine, touring with a children’s theatre company, and bartending at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. The turning point came while house-sitting for a friend; he found a typewriter, began writing, and felt a surge of confidence and joy that set him on a new course.

His first play, Removing All Doubt, was staged at Syracuse University in 1984, and his second, Hidden in This Picture, debuted off-off-Broadway at the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in 1988. The quality of these early plays earned him a theatrical agent, and producer John A. McQuiggan commissioned him to develop the one-act into a full-length work called Making Movies. Inspired by a phone call with his sister Deborah, a Navy lawyer, Sorkin drafted much of his courtroom drama A Few Good Men on cocktail napkins while working behind the bar at the Palace Theatre.

In 1988, producer David Brown purchased the film rights to A Few Good Men before the play had even premiered. The play opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in late 1989, ran for 497 performances, and was later adapted into a film that launched Sorkin’s career in Hollywood.

Aaron Sorkin Career

Early Career (1983–1990)

Sorkin’s first work as a writer for the stage earned him a theatrical agent and led directly to a commission for a full-length play. His Broadway production of A Few Good Men opened at the Music Box Theatre in 1989, ran for 497 performances, and was directed by Don Scardino. Producer David Brown sold the film rights to the project for a six-figure sum, eventually leading to a movie adaptation through Castle Rock Entertainment.

In 1990, Sorkin’s play Making Movies debuted Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, again produced by John A. McQuiggan and directed by Don Scardino. These early stage successes established Sorkin’s reputation for sharp dialogue and ensemble storytelling.

Breakthrough (1991–1997)

Sorkin joined Castle Rock Entertainment as a contract writer, where he befriended screenwriter William Goldman and director Rob Reiner, both of whom became important mentors. He wrote the screenplay for A Few Good Men (1992), directed by Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, and Kevin Bacon. The film was a major box-office success, grossing $243 million worldwide.

He next wrote the thriller Malice (1993) under Goldman’s supervision, with Harold Becker directing and Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin starring. Sorkin then penned The American President (1995), again working with Reiner. The three Castle Rock films together grossed approximately $400 million worldwide. In the second half of the decade, Sorkin worked as a script doctor on The Rock, Excess Baggage, Enemy of the State, and Bulworth, and collaborated with Warren Beatty on several projects, including the unproduced Ocean of Storms.

Notable Works and Milestones

Across the 1990s, Sorkin established himself as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriters, with the line “You can’t handle the truth!” from A Few Good Men becoming an enduring piece of American cinema. His collaboration with William Goldman produced a string of polished, dialogue-driven films that collectively grossed nearly $400 million and laid the groundwork for his move into television.

Aaron Sorkin Award Nominations

Aaron Sorkin has received ten Golden Globe Award nominations, three of which he won. He has been nominated five times for the British Academy Film Awards, and has received fourteen Writers Guild of America Award nominations. He has earned seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations for writing, and multiple Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations. Among his Academy Award nominations, three have come in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, for The Social Network, Moneyball, and Molly’s Game.

Aaron Sorkin Awards Won

Sorkin has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and two WGA Awards. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network in 2011, and the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in the same year for the same film. He also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series four times for The West Wing, and the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for The Social Network, Steve Jobs, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Aaron Sorkin Family

Sorkin was born into a Jewish family in Manhattan and raised in Scarsdale, New York. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer and World War II veteran, while his older sister and brother both pursued careers in law. His paternal grandfather was a founder of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

Personal Life

Aaron Sorkin married Julia Bingham in 1996, and the couple divorced in 2005. They have one daughter, Roxanne Sophie, born in November 2000, who has worked as a filmmaker and actress. Sorkin has reportedly dated actress Kristin Chenoweth, columnist Maureen Dowd, actress Kristin Davis, and model Paulina Porizkova. In November 2022, Sorkin suffered a stroke caused by hypertension, an event he later described as “a loud wake-up call” that prompted him to quit smoking, change his diet, and begin exercising daily.