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