---
name: "Steve Tesich"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/steve-tesich"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "29 September 1942"
died: "1 July 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T06:12:19.088877+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Steve Tesich

Writer. Born 29 September 1942 in Užice, Yugoslavia [now Serbia]. Died 1 July 1996.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 29 September 1942, Užice, Yugoslavia [now Serbia]
- **Died:** 1 July 1996
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Tesich, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q709583, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0856270/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/69002

## Biography

Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. Born Stojan Tešić in Užice, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), he immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 14 and settled in Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 1965 and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University, where he began writing plays.

Tesich won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for *Breaking Away* (1979). His other screenplays include *Eyewitness* (1981), *The World According to Garp* (1982) and *American Flyers* (1985). He also wrote the play *Division Street*, which opened on Broadway in 1980. Tesich died of a heart attack on 1 July 1996 while on holiday in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, web.archive.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Breaking Away* (1979), Fi1m 86, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-away.md)

## Complete filmography (7)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Eleni* (1985), Screenplay
- *American Flyers* (1985), Screenplay
- *The World According to Garp* (1982), Screenplay
- *Four Friends* (1981), Screenplay
- *Eyewitness* (1981), Writer
- *Breaking Away* (1979), Writer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/breaking-away.md)
- *Nourish the Beast* (1974), Theatre Play

## Gallery

- ![Steve Tesich](https://film.one/media/person/1246091/gallery-ce0730d6223a.jpg) Steve Tesich — Marko Rakocevic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Steve_Tesich_003.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Стојан Стив Тешић испред Гудмен театра у Чикагу, 1991. Фотографија је направљена током интервјуа Дејана Стојановића са Стивом Тешићем.](https://film.one/media/person/1246091/gallery-6fddb8f1c7a2.jpg) Стојан Стив Тешић испред Гудмен театра у Чикагу, 1991. Фотографија је направљена током интервјуа Дејана Стојановића са Стивом Тешићем. — Mountlovcen8 at Serbian Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Steve_Tesich%2C_002.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Стив Тешић испред Гудмен театра у Чикагу, 1991. Фотографија је направљена током интервјуа Дејана Стојановића са Стивом Тешићем.](https://film.one/media/person/1246091/gallery-8d0c507d6c67.jpg) Стив Тешић испред Гудмен театра у Чикагу, 1991. Фотографија је направљена током интервјуа Дејана Стојановића са Стивом Тешићем. — Mountlovcen8 at Serbian Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Steve_Tesich_001.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 1980: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (won), for *Breaking Away*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/steve-tesich