Edward Zwick

Born in Winnetka, Illinois, Edward Zwick began directing and acting in high school and trained as an apprentice at the Academy Festival in Lake Forest. While studying literature at Harvard, he continued writing and directing for the theatre. Upon graduation, he was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to study in Europe with some of the major innovative theatre companies.

Zwick was accepted as a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute in 1975. "Timothy And The Angel," Zwick's AFI short film, won first place in the student film competition at the 1976 Chicago Film Festival and caught the attention of the producers of the television series, "Family." He served as story editor on "Family" and subsequently became a director and producer.

For his work on the television movie, "Special Bulletin" (as director, producer and co-writer), Zwick received two Emmy Awards. It also marked the beginning of his collaboration with Marshall Herskovitz, with whom he then created the Emmy Award winning television series, "thirtysomething." Together Herskovitz and Zwick created The Bedford Falls Company as their home for film and television projects, including the critically acclaimed television series "My So-Called Life," "Relativity" and the Emmy Award and Golden Globe award-winning series, "Once And Again."

Zwick began his feature film career directing "About Last Night." He went on to direct the Academy Award winning films "Glory" and "Legends Of The Fall." Zwick also directed the films "Courage Under Fire," "The Siege," "The Last Samurai," "Blood Diamond," "Defiance" and "Love & Other Drugs." Zwick and Herskovitz also produced the Oscar-nominated "I Am Sam" as well as "Traffic" -- winner of two Golden Globes and four Academy Awards -- directed by Steven Soderbergh. Zwick also directed and produced "Pawn Sacrifice," starring Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg and Peter Sarsgaard.

Zwick has been honored with three Emmy Awards, the Humanitas Prize, the Writer's Guild of America Award, two Peabody Awards, a Director's Guild of America Award, and the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Award from the American Film Institute. He received an Academy Award as a producer of 1999's Best Picture "Shakespeare In Love."

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