Born in Grand Rapids, MI, Scrader was brought up in a strict Dutch Calvinist family and did not see his first film until he was an adult. In 1968, he finished his MFA at the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop where he studied with Nelson Algren, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Yates, Robert Coover, José Donoso and Jorge Luis Borges. Brother of screenwriter/director Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, CAT PEOPLE, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, CITY HALL, AFFLICTION, et al.), with whom he collaborated on the screenplays of THE YAKUZA (1975), BLUE COLLAR (1978), OLD BOYFRIENDS (1979) and MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (1985). Other writing credits (alone or in collaboration) include THE KILLING OF AMERICA (1982, also director), KISS OR THE SPIDER WOMAN (1985), NAKED TANGO (1990, also director) and EDIE: GIRL ON FIRE (2007). Between 1969 and 1971, Schrader taught American literature at Doshisha University and Kyoto University in Japan. During his time there he studied the Yakuza crime families (like a Japanese mob) and met Chieko Schrader who became his wife in 1977. He later taught screenwriting at USC and Chapman University. From 2003 until his death, Schrader was Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence at the American Film Institute where he chaired the Screenwriting Department and taught graduate screenwriting.  Nominated for Writing (Best Screenplay based on material from another medium) 1985: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN 1 nomination