David Simon Bio
David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer whose work has reshaped prestige television. A former police reporter at The Baltimore Sun for thirteen years, he built his reputation on immersive nonfiction, beginning with Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991) and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1997), the latter co-written with Ed Burns. He went on to create, write, and produce the landmark HBO series The Wire (2002–2008), followed by Treme, Show Me a Hero, The Deuce, The Plot Against America, and We Own This City. In 2010, he was named a MacArthur Fellow in recognition of his distinctive blend of investigative reporting and serialized storytelling.
Early Life and Background
David Judah Simon was born on February 9, 1960, in Washington, D.C., the son of Bernard Simon, a former journalist who later served as a public relations director for B’nai B’rith, and Dorothy Simon (née Ligeti), a homemaker. Raised in a Jewish family with roots in Russia, Belarus, Hungary, and Slovakia, Simon had a bar mitzvah and grew up alongside a brother, Gary Simon, and a sister, Linda Evans, who died in 1990. In March 1977, while he was still in high school, his father was among more than 140 people held hostage during the Hanafi Siege in Washington, D.C., an experience that left a mark on the family.
Simon graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland, where he wrote for the school newspaper, The Tattler. He went on to attend the University of Maryland, College Park, writing for and eventually editing The Diamondback, the student newspaper. At College Park he struck up a friendship with fellow student David Mills, who would later become a close professional collaborator on projects including Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire. Simon completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983.
Path to Writing
After college, Simon joined The Baltimore Sun in 1982, beginning a thirteen-year career as a crime reporter on the city desk. Inspired early on by The Washington Post’s coverage of Watergate, he covered the police beat and grew close to the detectives of the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. In 1988, he took a year’s leave of absence to embed with that unit, an experience that produced his first book and redirected his career from daily journalism toward long-form narrative work.
The resulting book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991), won the 1992 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book and was hailed as a true-crime classic. The book caught the attention of Baltimore-born director Barry Levinson and producer Gail Mutrux, who adapted it into the NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999). Simon joined the show as a writer and producer, eventually leaving The Baltimore Sun in 1995 to work on the series full-time.
David Simon Career
Early Career (1982–1999)
Simon began his career at The Baltimore Sun in 1982 and quickly established himself on the crime beat. His book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets led directly to his transition into television when it was adapted into Homicide: Life on the Street. Working alongside writers David Mills, Tom Fontana, and Eric Overmyer, Simon wrote several teleplays for the series, including the season two premiere “Bop Gun,” which won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Writing in a Drama and earned guest star Robin Williams an Emmy nomination.
In 1997, Simon and former Baltimore homicide detective Ed Burns published The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. The pair later adapted the book into a six-hour HBO miniseries, The Corner (2000), cementing Simon’s relationship with the cable network that would become the home for most of his subsequent work.
Breakthrough (2002–2008)
Simon created, wrote, and showran The Wire for HBO across five seasons, beginning in 2002. Developed with Ed Burns and drawing on Simon’s years as a police reporter, the series examined Baltimore’s drug trade, ports, city hall, public schools, and print media in successive seasons. The show earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Dramatic Series.
Beyond The Wire, Simon produced and co-wrote the HBO miniseries Generation Kill (2008), adapting Evan Wright’s nonfiction book about the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, he received the Austin Film Festival’s Outstanding Television Writer Award and was named a MacArthur Fellow, recognizing his distinctive contribution to American storytelling.
Notable Works and Milestones
Simon reunited with Eric Overmyer to create Treme (2010–2013), an HBO series about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans that ran for four seasons and featured Wendell Pierce, Clarke Peters, and Steve Earle. He co-wrote Show Me a Hero (2015) with William F. Zorzi, starring Oscar Isaac as the young mayor of Yonkers, New York. Simon and George Pelecanos next created The Deuce (2017–2019), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco, followed by the alternate-history miniseries The Plot Against America (2020). His most recent project, We Own This City (2022), was developed with George Pelecanos and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.
David Simon Award Nominations
David Simon has earned recognition across his career in journalism, literature, and television. His work on The Wire brought two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, including one for the series finale “-30-” co-written with Ed Burns. The writing staff of The Wire’s fifth season received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2009 ceremony. Simon also received a second WGA nomination for Best Writing in a Drama for “Finnegan’s Wake,” an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.
David Simon Awards Won
Simon won the 1992 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book for Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and his Season Two premiere of Homicide: Life on the Street, “Bop Gun,” co-written with David Mills, won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Writing in a Drama. Simon, Julie Martin, and T. J. English later received the Humanitas Prize in the 60 minutes category for the Homicide episode “Shades of Gray.” In 2010, he received the Austin Film Festival’s Outstanding Television Writer Award and was named a MacArthur Fellow in recognition of his creative contributions to American society.
David Simon Family
David Simon was born to Bernard Simon, a former journalist and public relations director for B’nai B’rith, and Dorothy Simon (née Ligeti), a homemaker. He grew up with a brother, Gary Simon, and a sister, Linda Evans, who died in 1990. Simon’s nephew, Jason Simon, is a guitarist and vocalist for the psychedelic rock band Dead Meadow, which was referenced in an episode of The Wire.
Personal Life
In 1991, Simon married graphic artist Kayle Tucker, and the couple had a son before later divorcing. In 2006, he married best-selling Baltimore novelist and former Sun reporter Laura Lippman in a ceremony officiated by filmmaker John Waters. Simon and Lippman had a daughter, born in 2010. The couple separated in 2020 and divorced in 2024, though they continue to co-parent their daughter.