Aaron Sorkin Biography, Age, Masterclass, Net Worth, Movies and TV Shows

Aaron Sorkin Biography

Aaron Sorkin (Aaron Benjamin Sorkin) is an American director, producer, screeenwriter, and playwright. Sorkin’s work include the Broadway plays A Few Good Men and The Farnsworth Invention; the television series Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Newsroom; and the films A Few Good Men, The American President, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs.

He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, among other awards, for writing the Social Network. Aaron made his feature directorial debut in 2017 with Molly’s Game, which he also wrote.

Aaron Sorkin Age

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin was born on June 9, 1961 in New York City, U.S. He is 57 years old as of 2018.

Aaron Sorkin Family

Sorkin was born to a Jewish family, and raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. His mother was then a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had fought in WWII and also put himself through college on the G.I. Bill; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers.

Sorkin’s paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU). Before reaching his teenage years, he took early interest in acting and his parents were taking him to the theatre to see shows such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and That Championship Season.

Aaron Sorkin Wife

Aaron married Julia Bingham in 1996 but later divorced in 2005. His workaholic habits and drug abuse were reported to be a partial cause.

Sorkin had dated actress Kristin Chenoweth who played Annabeth Schott on The West Wing for several years. They dated after Sorkin left the show. Aaron has also reportedly dated columnist Maureen Dowd and actress Kristin Davis.

Aaron Sorkin Daughter

Sorkin has a daughter, Roxy with ex-wife Julia.

Aaron Sorkin Career

After he graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre in 1983, Aaron moved to New York City where he spent much of the 1980s as a struggling, sporadically-employed actor who then worked odd jobs, such as delivering singing telegrams, driving a limousine, touring Alabama with the children’s theatre company Traveling Playhouse, handing out fliers promoting a hunting-and-fishing show, and also bartending at Broadway’s Palace Theatre.

One weekend, while he was housesitting at a friend’s place Aaron found an IBM Selectric typewriter, started typing, and “felt a phenomenal confidence and a kind of joy that [he] had never experienced before in [his] life.”

Aaron continued writing and eventually put together his first play, Removing All Doubt, which he then sent to his old Syracuse theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, who was impressed. Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at his alma mater, Syracuse University in 1984. Aaron wrote Hidden in This Picture which debuted off-off-Broadway at Steve Olsen’s West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1988 after that. The contents of Aaron’s first two plays got him a theatrical agent. Producer John A. McQuiggan then saw the production of Hidden in This Picture and then commissioned Sorkin to turn the one-act into a full-length play called Making Movies.

Aaron Sorkin West Wing

He conceived the political drama The West Wing in 1997 when he had gone unprepared to a lunch with producer John Wells and then in a panic pitched to Wells a series centered on the senior staff of the White House, using leftover ideas from his script for The American President. Sorkin told Wells about his visits to the White House while doing research for The American President, and they then found themselves discussing public service and the passion of the people who serve.

Wells then took the concept and pitched it to the NBC network, but was later told to wait because the facts behind the Lewinsky scandal were then breaking and there was concern that an audience would not be able to take a series about the White House seriously. A year later, some other networks started showing interest in The West Wing, NBC and decided to greenlight the series despite their previous reluctance. Its pilot debuted in the fall of 1999 and was produced by Warner Bros. Television.

Aaron Sorkin Masterclass

Aaron launched a series of online screenwriting lessons through MasterClass in August 2016. His lessons then include dialogue, character development, story pacing, plot and also his process of working. The students watch 35 short videos, download a PDF workbook, and also share their observations and progress through discussion boards and social media groups.

Aaron Sorkin Books

  • The West Wing Script Book – 2002
  • The West Wing Seasons 3 & 4 – 2003
  • Making Movies – 2012
  • The West Wing – 2002
  • Hidden in This Picture

Aaron Sorkin New Show

To Kill a Mockingbird

Aaron Sorkin To Kill A Mockingbird

It was revealed that Sorkin would be adapting Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage in February 2016, where Aaron would be working alongside Bartlett Sher. Aaron adaptation opened on December 13, 2018 to acclaimed reviews at the Sam S. Schubert Theatre on Broadway.

Aaron Sorkin Social Network

Aaron announced that he had agreed to write a script for Sony and producer Scott Rudin about how Facebook was founded in August 2008. The film, The Social Network, which is based on Ben Mezrich’s novel The Accidental Billionaires, was released on October 1, 2010. Aaron won the Academy, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for The Social Network. He then received nominations for the same awards for co-writing the screenplay to the film Moneyball one year later.

Aaron Sorkin Net Worth

The American playwright has an estimated net worth of $80 million.

Aaron Sorkin Movies and TV Shows

Aaron Sorkin Movies | Aaron Sorkin Films | Aaron Sorkin Series

Year

Title

Notes

2017

Molly’s Game

Directorial debut; Based on the memoir by Molly Bloom

2015

Steve Jobs

Based on the book by Walter Isaacson

2011

Moneyball

With Steven Zaillian from a story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis

2010

The Social Network

Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

2007

Charlie Wilson’s War

Based on the book by George Crile

1998

Bulworth

Uncredited

1996

The Rock

Uncredited

1995

The American President

1993

Malice

With Scott Frank

1992

A Few Good Men

Aaron Sorkin TV Shows | Aaron Sorkin Shows

Year

Title

2012–2014

The Newsroom

2006–2007

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

1999–2003

The West Wing

1998–2000

Sports Night

Aaron Sorkin Screenplays | Aaron Sorkin Plays

Year

Title

Credit

Venue

2018

To Kill a Mockingbird

Writer

Shubert Theatre

2007

The Farnsworth Invention

Writer

La Jolla Playhouse

1990

Making Movies

Writer

Promenade Theatre

1989

A Few Good Men

Writer

Music Box Theatre

1988

Hidden in This Picture

Writer

West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar

1984

Removing All Doubt

Writer

Syracuse University

Aaron Sorkin Oscar

  • 2011 · The Social Network
    Winner
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
    2018 · Molly’s Game
    Nominee
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
    2012 · Moneyball
    Nominee