Aaron Sorkin

After graduating from Syracuse University with a bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, Aaron had high hopes of acting but he soon realised his true passion lay in writing. Among his greatest hits on Broadway was the 1989 play A Few Good Men, which was made into a feature in 1992, kick-starting his Hollywood career. He went on to write 2 movies: Malice (1993) and The American President (1995) before moving into television creating a 30 minute comedy called Sports Night (1998) and the following year he created the 60 minute series that made him famous: The West Wing (1999) - a series that was… More honoured with 13 Emmy Awards for its first season alone! As a writer, Aaron Sorkin has received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (The West Wing). In addition, he has received numerous nominations and awards at the Golden Globes, Television Critics Association Awards, Producers Guild Golden Laurel Awards and the Writers Guild of America Awards. Sorkin was arrested on April 15, 2001 after guards at a security checkpoint at the Burbank Airport found magic mushrooms, marijuana and crack in his carry-on bag. He was later ordered to a drug-diversion program. While the public scrutiny of his drug addiction raised some bad publicity for The West Wing at the time, it also lent credibility to the on-screen portrayal of addiction and substance abuse by one of the show's lead characters (John Spencer's Leo). For reasons that were never made public, Aaron, along with his good friend and colleague Thomas Schlamme, left The West Wing after its fourth season leaving John Wells to assume full control of the series. Recently, Aaron has completed a screenplay based on the story of Philo Farnsworth (entitled The Farnsworth Invention), to be directed by Schlamme, and was reported to be signed on to adapt George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War for Tom Hanks's production company. His play A Few Good Men also continues to do the rounds as it moves to London's West End this fall where Rob Lowe (formerly of The West Wing) will play the lead.