Biography for
Charlie Kaufman More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 November 1958, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Charles Stewart Kaufman

Height

5' 4½" (1.64 m)

Mini Biography

Avid reader Charlie Kaufman wrote plays and made short films as a young student. He moved from Massapequa, New York to West Hartford, Connecticut in 1972 where he attended high school. As a comedic actor, he performed in school plays and, after graduation, he enrolled at Boston University but soon transferred NYU to study film. Charlie worked in the circulation department of the Star Tribune, in Minneapolis, in the late 1980s and moved to Los Angeles in 1991, where he was hired to write for the TV sitcom "Get a Life" (1990). He went on to write comedy sketches and a variety of TV show episodes. Between writing assignments, he wrote the inventive screenplay Being John Malkovich (1999), which created Hollywood interest and the attention of producer Steve Golin. Charlie works at home in Pasadena, California, where he lives with his wife Denise and children.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Judy Couzens

Spouse

Denise

(? - present) 1 child

Trade Mark

Scripts usually feature reluctant protagonists who start out in the story as downtrodden or self-doubtful, frustrated with life or love or their professions.

Stories with bizarre plots that showcase a sense of fantasy in the real world.

His films often deal with themes of reality and identity

Trivia

Ranked #100 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. He was the only writer on the list.

He is notorious for avoiding the press and in particular dislikes the idea of being interviewed on television. He was interviewed by Charlie Rose at the end of March 2004, and by Stephen Colbert in December of 2008.

3 of the 5 movies he has penned so far are based around real people in fictional situations: Susan Orlean, John Laroche and himself in Adaptation. (2002), Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich (1999) (obviously).

Has one daughter, Anna.

Wrote an unproduced draft of A Scanner Darkly (2006).

Worked alongside Stephen Colbert and Louis C.K. on the writing staff of "The Dana Carvey Show" (1996).

Personal Quotes

I don't know what the hell a third act is.