LaGravenese, Richard 1959-

PERSONAL

Born October 30, 1959, in Brooklyn, NY; father, a taxi driver; married Ann Weiss; children: Lily. Education: New York University, B.A., 1980; Emerson College, M.A. Religion: Roman Catholic.

Addresses:

Office—Writers Co-op, 4000 Warner Blvd., Building 1, Burbank, CA 91522. Agent—Creative Artists Agency, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

Career:

Writer, actor, director, and producer. Writers Co-op, Burbank, CA, partner. Previously worked as a comedian, bartender, and street vendor.

Awards, Honors:

Academy Award nomination, Film Award nomination, British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award, Screen Award nomination, Writers Guild of America, all best original screenplay, and Saturn Award nomination, best writing, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, all 1992, for The Fisher King; Writer Award, Gotham Awards, 1998; Golden Satellite Award nomination (with Akosua Busia and Adam Brooks), best screen adaptation, International Press Academy, 1999, for Beloved; Sierra Award (with Susannah Grant), and Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award, best original screenplay, 2000, for Erin Brockovich; William K. Everson Film History Award (with Ted Demme), National Board of Review, 2003, nomination for grand jury prize, documentary category, Sundance Film Festival 2003, and Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding nonfiction special, 2004, all for A Decade Under the Influence; Humanitas Prize, feature film category, Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute, 2007, and Image Award nomination, outstanding writing in a theatrical film or television movie, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 2008, both for Freedom Writers.

CREDITS

Film Director:

Living Out Loud, New Line Cinema, 1998.

(And producer) A Decade Under the Influence (documentary), IFC Films, 2003.

"Pigalle" segment, Paris, je t'aime (also known as Paris, I Love You), First Look International, 2007.

Freedom Writers, Paramount, 2007.

P.S. I Love You, Warner Bros., 2007.

Film Producer:

The Ref (also known as Hostile Hostages), Buena Vista, 1994.

Film Appearances:

Straitjacket yuppie, The Fisher King, TriStar, 1991.

Second detective, Blow, New Line Cinema, 2001.

Interviewer, A Decade under the Influence (documentary), IFC Films, 2003.

Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies (documentary), Beachcomber Films/Pacific Street Films, 2008.

Television Supervising Producer; Movies:

Samantha: An American Girl, The WB, 2004.

Felicity: An American Girl, The WB, 2005.

Television Director; Specials:

(With others) The 74th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2002.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

"P.S., I Love You," HBO First Look, HBO, 2007.

Sunday Morning Shootout, AMC, 2007.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

Rude Awakening, Orion, 1989.

The Fisher King, TriStar, 1991.

(With Marie Weiss) The Ref (also known as Hostile Hostages), Buena Vista, 1994.

(With Elizabeth Chandler) A Little Princess (based on book by Frances Hodgson Burnett), Warner Bros., 1995.

The Bridges of Madison County (based on book by Robert James Waller), Warner Bros., 1995.

Unstrung Heroes (based on a memoir by Franz Lidz), Buena Vista, 1995.

The Mirror Has Two Faces (also based on story by LaGravenese), Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1996.

(With Eric Roth) The Horse Whisperer (based on book by Nicholas Evans), Buena Vista, 1998.

Living Out Loud, New Line Cinema, 1998.

(With Akosua Ufia and Adam Brooks) Beloved (based on novel by Toni Morrison), Buena Vista, 1998.

(Uncredited; with Susannah Grant) Erin Brockovich, Universal, 2000.

"Pigalle" segment, Paris, je t'aime (also known as Paris, I Love You), First Look International, 2007.

Freedom Writers, Paramount, 2007.

P.S. I Love You, Warner Bros., 2007.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, p. 35.