Eric Roth
American screenwriter
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Eric R. Roth (born March 22, 1945) is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), A Star Is Born (2018), and Dune (2021), winning for Forrest Gump; he also earned a Best Picture nomination for producing Mank (2020). Roth also worked on the screenplays for the Oscar-nominated films Ali (2001), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
Eric Roth | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 22, 1945 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Santa Barbara UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Notable work | Full list |
| Spouse | Anne L. Peters[1] |
| Children | 5, including Vanessa |
| Awards | Full list |
In 2026, Roth made his playwriting debut on London's West End with his stage adaptation of High Noon.[2]
Early life and education
Roth was born in New York City, New York, into a Jewish family, the son of Miriam "Mimi", a teacher, studio executive, and radio writer, and Leon Roth, a university teacher and film producer.[3][4] He grew up in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in New York.[5] He grew up boxing and would credit some of his later successes to habits learned from the sport.[5]
Roth went to college at the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated in 1966.[6] He later attended UCLA Film School as part of the class of 1973.[citation needed]
Career
Roth won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump. He is known for writing his scripts in an obsolete MS-DOS application called Movie Master without Internet access and distributing the scripts only in hard copy formats.[4][7][8] He followed his Academy Award win by co-writing screenplays for several Oscar-nominated films, including The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and A Star Is Born. While writing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, he lost both of his parents, and as a result views the film as "my most personal movie."[5][9][10]
Personal life
Roth lives in Santa Monica, California.[11] He has five children, including documentary filmmaker Vanessa Roth, and filmmakers Geoffrey Roth and Alec Roth; and six grandchildren.[citation needed]
Roth was one of the investors defrauded by Bernard Madoff in a Ponzi scheme via Stanley Chais.[12][13] He stated that his losses were heavy and he has lost his retirement money, although the full extent is unknown. As a result of the fraud and the associated losses, Roth sued the estate of Chais, who died on September 26, 2010.[citation needed]
Filmography
Film
As writer
Television
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | The Strangers in 7A | Yes | No | TV movie |
| 1992 | The Heights | Yes | No | Co-creator |
| 1994 | Jane's House | Yes | No | TV movie |
| 2011–2012 | Luck | Yes | Yes | |
| 2013–2017 | House of Cards | No | Yes | |
| 2016–2018 | Berlin Station | No | Yes | |
| 2018 | The Alienist | No | Yes | |
| 2020 | The Alienist: Angel of Darkness | No | Yes | |
| 2024 | Before | No | Yes |