Simon Kinberg

Simon Kinberg
Kinberg at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	Simon David Kinberg (1973-08-02) August 2, 1973 London, England, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Brown University Columbia University School of the Arts
Occupation	Screenwriter, film producer
Spouse(s)	Mali Heled (m. 2001-2016)
Children	2

Simon David Kinberg^[1] (born August 2, 1973)^[2] is a British-born American screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for his work on the X-Men film franchise, and has also written such films as Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. He has served as a producer on others including Cinderella, and The Martian, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. His production company is Genre Films (usually credited as Kinberg Genre), which has a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox.

Early life

Kinberg was born in London, England,^[3] the son of Monica Menell-Kinberg and Jud Kinberg, a New York City-born writer and producer. His father's first wife was French actress Suzanne Dalbert. From age six, he was raised in Los Angeles, California.^[4] He is Jewish.^[5] He has a brother, Robert, and a half-brother, Steven. Simon Kinberg graduated from Brentwood High School,^[2] and then from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude; in 2003 received his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, where he won the Zaki Gordon Fellowship for Screenwriting.^[3][6]

Career

While still in film school, Kinberg sold a pitch to Warner Brothers, then went on to write scripts for Disney, Sony, and DreamWorks, working with Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer, among others. After finishing school, Kinberg moved to Hollywood, where his first screenwriting credit was a sequel to the hit action film XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union. His next screenwriting venture was the screenplay for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman and starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The script began as Kinberg's thesis project for film school. Kinberg also wrote the pilot episode for a television adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith for ABC TV. He also appears in the movie, in a scene with Brad Pitt.

Kinberg's next screenwriting job was the sequel to X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), which he co-wrote with Zak Penn. Comic-book writer Chris Claremont wrote the novelization of the film, and made Kinberg a character in the book.

Kinberg reunited with director Doug Liman for the film Jumper (2008). Kinberg wrote and produced the movie, which stars Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen, and Diane Lane. The following year, Kinberg was writer of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. In April 2010, his production company, Genre Films, signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox.^[7]

Kinberg was the producer of X-Men: First Class (2011), and both writer and producer of This Means War (2012). He was also co-screenwriter and an executive producer of the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in that same year. In 2013, Kinberg produced Elysium.

The following year, Kinberg was the writer and the producer of the film X-Men: Days of Future Past. That same year, he produced Let's Be Cops. In 2015, Kinberg produced the Neill Blomkamp film Chappie and the live-action version of Cinderella at Disney. He also worked on Fantastic Four as writer and producer. His final film of the year was The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott.

He wrote and produced X-Men: Apocalypse, the next film in the X-Men franchise following X-Men: Days of Future Past. He is also producing an adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel Murder on the Orient Express, a remake of Logan's Run, and a live-action film of Magic: The Gathering.^[8] In addition, Kinberg produced Deadpool (2016) and will produce the upcoming Gambit, both X-Men spin-off films.

The Hollywood Reporter initially reported that Lawrence Kasdan, writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and Kinberg would write and produce Episodes VIII and IX of the new Star Wars films.^[9] A week later the publication stated that Kasdan and Kinberg would be working on future Star Wars projects, but not necessarily on Episodes VIII and IX.^[10]

In television, he is the Executive Producer of ABC network's Designated Survivor starring Kiefer Sutherland. He is also Executive Producer of Legion created by Noah Hawley on FX Networks.

Personal life

Kinberg married Mali Heled on July 26, 2001.^[1] The couple separated in 2013 and divorced in 2016. They have two sons.^[4]

Awards

Kinberg received a Golden Globe for Best Picture Musical/Comedy for The Martian. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for the film, as well as multiple other awards including being named to the top ten films of the year by the American Film Institute, and nominated for Best Picture by the Producers Guild of America, National Board of Review, and Broadcast Film Critics Association. His films have won multiple MTV Movie Awards, People's Choice Awards, and Teen Choice Awards. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Saturn Awards in 2016.

He was named #61 on the list of 100 most powerful people in Hollywood by the Hollywood Reporter in 2016. The same year, the Hollywood Reporter named Kinberg as the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood with a record 16 million dollars for two X-Men scripts, and named him as one of the highest paid producers in Hollywood with 40 million dollars for Deadpool in their annual Hollywood Salaries issue.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simon Kinberg.

• Simon Kinberg at the Internet Movie Database