--- name: "Tony Kushner" canonical: "https://film.one/person/tony-kushner" fi1m_id: "tony-kushner" imdb_id: "nm1065785" tmdb_id: 8780 wikidata_id: "Q704433" roles: ["Writer","Producer"] born: "16 July 1956" reviewed_on_fi1m: 7 average_fi1m_score: 80 average_as: "writer" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-10-01T23:10:25.127210+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." --- # Tony Kushner ## Identity Tony Kushner - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tony-kushner - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** tony-kushner - **IMDb ID:** nm1065785 - **TMDB ID:** 8780 - **Wikidata ID:** Q704433 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Kushner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q704433, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065785/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8780 Writer and producer. Born 16 July 1956 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Producer - **Born:** 16 July 1956, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA - **Active:** 2003–present - **Also known as:** Anthony Robert Kushner - **Titles on Fi1m:** 7: 5 writing, 1 producing, 1 other - **Frequently works with:** [Steven Spielberg](https://film.one/person/steven-spielberg.md), [Kathleen Kennedy](https://film.one/person/kathleen-kennedy.md), [Kristie Macosko Krieger](https://film.one/person/kristie-macosko-krieger.md) - **Academy Awards:** 4 Oscar nominations - **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as writer, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 82 (2), 2010s 76 (3), 2020s 78 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 78 across 5 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 5, History 2, Crime 1, Romance 1, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1, Thriller 1 - **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $528m across 4 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Kushner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q704433, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065785/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8780 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Angels in America*](https://film.one/tv/angels-in-america.md) (83) - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Munich*](https://film.one/film/munich.md) (80) - **Disney+:** [*West Side Story*](https://film.one/film/west-side-story-2021.md) (79) - **Peacock:** [*The Fabelmans*](https://film.one/film/the-fabelmans.md) (76) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Tony Kushner > Tony Kushner writes people who talk in paragraphs and know they are being overheard, and he makes the talk move. At his best the argument is the action. When it goes wrong, his characters explain what the actors have already shown. In *Lincoln* (2012) the thing to watch is a conversation, because a vote can be gained, weakened or lost inside it before it is over. In *Angels in America* (2003) two rows in two flats are cut into each other until Louis seems to be answering Joe's wife. That is Tony Kushner's habit and his method. He puts the argument where most screenwriters put the pursuit, and he trusts that people who are ill, frightened or appalling will still find the words, usually more of them than they need. He began as a playwright in the 1980s, and *Angels in America*, two plays first staged between 1991 and 1993, runs to about seven hours in a theatre. He adapted it himself for Mike Nichols as six episodes of roughly an hour, first shown on 7 December 2003, and cut very little. From 2005 he became Steven Spielberg's screenwriter of choice: *Munich* (2005), *Lincoln* (2012), *West Side Story* (2021) and *The Fabelmans* (2022), the last written with Spielberg. On paper it is an odd pairing, a writer who lives in dialogue and a director who tells stories with a camera. In practice it has worked more often than not. It works best when the talk has somewhere to get to. *Lincoln* gives the bargaining over the 13th Amendment the concentration a thriller gives a siege. The dubious methods used to bring reluctant men round are allowed to stay dubious, and the film never pretends a good cause excuses anyone from negotiating. We were more absorbed by men being talked into a vote for their own poor reasons than by most chases, and it was the writing that did it: every exchange leaves the count different from how it found it. *Angels* has the same virtue in a different key, and the split scenes, which the editors Antonia Van Drimmelen and John Bloom keep intact, work better on screen than on stage. It works worst when the talk arrives after the point has been made. In *Munich*, written with Eric Roth, speeches put into words what Eric Bana's face had already told us, and the dialogue can sound prepared for the discussion the film wants us to have afterwards. *Perestroika*, the second half of *Angels*, goes round its arguments about God and blame at least three times, and somewhere in the fifth hour we looked at the clock. The word that follows him around is overstuffed. He would not argue: "I like big, splashy, juicy plays. I like the audience to feel space to roam around in." The roaming is the pleasure. The trouble comes when he walks us back over ground we have already covered. Start with *Lincoln*, where Spielberg holds him to 150 minutes and every paragraph has to earn a vote. If the counting holds you, give *Angels* its two nights, three episodes each, and forgive it the angel. ## Biography Tony Kushner is an American playwright, author and screenwriter. Born on 16 July 1956 in Manhattan, New York City, he is best known for his two-part play *Angels in America*, which premiered on Broadway in 1993 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Awards for Best Play. He adapted *Angels in America* for a 2003 HBO miniseries directed by Mike Nichols. Kushner has written screenplays for several films directed by Steven Spielberg, including *Munich* (2005), *Lincoln* (2012), *West Side Story* (2021) and *The Fabelmans* (2022). He also wrote the book and lyrics for the musical *Caroline, or Change*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, the-numbers.com.* ## On Fi1m (7) ### Wrote (5) — the average rests on these - *The Fabelmans* (2022), Fi1m 76, Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-fabelmans.md) - *West Side Story* (2021), Fi1m 79, Screenplay, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/west-side-story-2021.md) - *Lincoln* (2012), Fi1m 82, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/lincoln.md) - *Munich* (2005), Fi1m 80, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/munich.md) - *Angels in America* (2003), Fi1m 83, as Rabbi on Bench #1 (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/tv/angels-in-america.md) ### Produced (1) - *Fences* (2016), Fi1m 70, Co-Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/fences.md) ### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *Still Alice* (2014), Fi1m 77, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/still-alice.md) ## Complete filmography (18) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *מלאכים באמריקה- בנייה מחדש* (2023), Author - *מלאכים באמריקה- המילניום מתקרב* (2023), Author - *The Fabelmans* (2022), Producer, Writer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/the-fabelmans.md) - *West Side Story* (2021), Screenplay, Executive Producer — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/west-side-story-2021.md) - *Angels in America* (2021), Theatre Play - *Hacks* (2021), series, as Tony Kushner — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/hacks.md) - *The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America* (2020), Writer - *National Theatre Live: Angels In America — Part Two: Perestroika* (2017), Theatre Play - *National Theatre Live: Angels In America — Part One: Millennium Approaches* (2017), Theatre Play - *Fences* (2016), Co-Producer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/fences.md) - *The Royal Road* (2015), as (archive sound) - *Still Alice* (2014), Thanks — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/still-alice.md) - *Lincoln* (2012), Screenplay — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/lincoln.md) - *Munich* (2005), Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/munich.md) - *Angels in America* (2003), series, as Rabbi on Bench #1 (uncredited) · Writer, Theatre Play, Teleplay, Creator — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/angels-in-america.md) - *In the Wings: Angels in America On Broadway* (1993), Actor - *Ultra*, Executive Producer - *Death of a Salesman*, Writer, Producer ## Gallery - ![Tony Kushner speaks at the University of Maryland in February 2011.](https://film.one/media/person/98891/gallery-fae1cf549c3c.jpg) Tony Kushner speaks at the University of Maryland in February 2011. — Franchise41, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Tony_Kushner..jpg/1280px-Tony_Kushner..jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - !["Can a socialist choose Hillary over Bernie? Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner discusses Socialism, Zionism, Hollywood, and the 2016 elections. Tony Kush](https://film.one/media/person/98891/gallery-f9626ab430ca.png) "Can a socialist choose Hillary over Bernie? Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner discusses Socialism, Zionism, Hollywood, and the 2016 elections. Tony Kush — The Laura Flanders Show, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Tony_Kushner_-_Hollywood_and_Socialism_-_The_Laura_Flanders_Show_2.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Playwright Tony Kushner receives a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at the White House. (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/98891/gallery-ccf1ad43f8ad.jpg) Playwright Tony Kushner receives a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama at the White House. (2013) — Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Tony_Kushner_National_Medal_of_Arts.jpg/1280px-Tony_Kushner_National_Medal_of_Arts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Tony Kushner](https://film.one/media/person/98891/gallery-9e15bf59221a.jpg) Tony Kushner — Commonwealth Club from San Francisco, San Jose, United States (photo by Ed Ritger), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Tony_Kushner_and_Angels_in_America%27s_20th_Anniversary.jpg/1280px-Tony_Kushner_and_Angels_in_America%27s_20th_Anniversary.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Tony Kushner discusses Angels in America at 20, during a Commonwealth Club program in San Francisco's Herbst Theatre on Nov 6. 2010. Photo by Ed Ritger.](https://film.one/media/person/98891/gallery-e12818f1e803.jpg) Tony Kushner discusses Angels in America at 20, during a Commonwealth Club program in San Francisco's Herbst Theatre on Nov 6. 2010. Photo by Ed Ritger. — Commonwealth Club from San Francisco, San Jose, United States (photo by Ed Ritger), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Tony_Kushner_and_Angels_in_America%27s_20th_Anniversary_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 4 nominated - 2023: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *The Fabelmans* - 2023: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Fabelmans* - 2013: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Lincoln* - 2006: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Munich* ### Golden Globes — 0 won, 1 nominated - 2023: Best Screenplay (nominated), for *The Fabelmans* ### Other awards — 3 won, 2 nominated - Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical 2004: Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (nominated), for *Caroline, or Change* - Tony Award for Best Original Score 2004: Tony Award for Best Original Score (nominated), for *Caroline, or Change* - Tony Award for Best Play 1994: Tony Award for Best Play (won), for *Angels in America* - Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1993: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (won), for *Angels in America* - Tony Award for Best Play 1993: Tony Award for Best Play (won), for *Angels in America* *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/tony-kushner