Biography
Stephen J. Rivele was an American screenwriter, producer, novelist and poet. Born in Philadelphia on 6 May 1949, he became the first American student accepted at the Paris Film Conservatory in 1975 and studied with director Éric Rohmer at the University of Paris, receiving a master’s degree in film directing. He later founded Philadelphia’s Performing Arts Theater with actor Jon Polito.
Rivele maintained a thirty-year screenwriting partnership with Christopher Wilkinson. Their joint credits include the screenplay for Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), for which they shared an Academy Award nomination with Stone; Ali (2001); Copying Beethoven (2006); Pawn Sacrifice (2014); and Birth of the Dragon (2016). He also contributed the story for Miles Ahead (2015) and wrote Like Dandelion Dust (2009). Rivele died on 17 May 2024 in Pasadena, California.
