Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin moved to New York City in the 1980s, where he worked as a struggling actor while taking on various odd jobs. During this period he began writing for the stage. His early plays included Removing All Doubt, which was staged at Syracuse University in 1984, and Hidden in This Picture, which premiered off-off-Broadway in 1988. He followed this with Making Movies, which debuted Off-Broadway in 1990.

Sorkin’s major breakthrough came with A Few Good Men, which premiered on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in 1989. The play was later adapted into a 1992 feature film directed by Rob Reiner. During the early 1990s, he worked under contract at Castle Rock Entertainment, where he wrote the screenplays for Malice (1993) and The American President (1995), both released as feature films.

In television, Sorkin created Sports Night (1998–2000) for ABC. He then created The West Wing (1999–2006), serving as the primary writer for its first four seasons and contributing the majority of episodes through 2003. After leaving the series, he continued developing television and stage projects.

Sorkin returned to theatre and television writing in the mid-2000s with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007). He wrote and developed the stage play The Farnsworth Invention, which opened on Broadway in 2007. That same year, he wrote the film Charlie Wilson’s War (2007).

In the 2010s, Sorkin wrote the screenplays for The Social Network (2010) and Moneyball (2011). He created the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). He also wrote the screenplay for Steve Jobs (2015).

Sorkin made his feature film directorial debut with Molly’s Game (2017), which he also wrote. He later adapted and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird for Broadway (2018) and wrote the book for the Broadway revival of Camelot (2023). His later screenwriting credits include The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) and Being the Ricardos (2021).