Photo: Deimitrios Kambouris © WireImage.com

Born in Brooklyn, NY; graduate of Wesleyan University (1983). After writing a half dozen commercially successful films, including two BATMAN movies and adaptations of two John Grisham novels, The Client and A Time to Kill, Akiva Goldsman suddenly found himself "a genre guy." Not that he was complaining. But it was time to write one from the heart. A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001), a complex drama of genius and mental instability based on the life of Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash, Jr., seemed an odd choice. For Goldsman however, it was like going back home. Raised in Brooklyn Heights, he is the son of therapist Tev Goldsman and famed child psychologist Mira Rothenberg, who had founded one of the country's first group homes for emotionally disturbed children in the family's residence. Having been reared in this environment, the project became a vehicle to provide insight and empathy for men and women with pervasive developmental disorders. Goldsman had developed theories about recovery in his youth and the years following graduation from Wesleyan and New York University while working in mental heath facilities. While he has no intention of abandoning genre films, either as a writer or producer, A BEAUTIFUL MIND opened up another avenue for Goldsman's talents. Film writing credits include THE CLIENT and SILENT FALL (both 1994), BATMAN FOREVER (1995), A TIME TO KILL (1996), BATMAN & ROBIN (1997), LOST IN SPACE (also producer) and PRACTICAL MAGIC (both 1998), A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001), I, ROBOT (2004), CINDERELLA MAN (2005), THE DA VINCI CODE (2006), I AM LEGEND (2007, also producer), and ANGELS & DEMONS (scheduled for release in 2009). Film producing-only credits include DEEP BLUE SEA (1999), STARSKY & HUTCH (2003), MINDHUNTERS (2004), CONSTANTINE and MR. AND MRS. SMITH (both 2005), I'M REED FISH (exec. prod.) and POSEIDON (both 2006), "The Cure" (2007, TV: exec. prod.), and HANCOCK and EDDIE DICKENS AND THE AWFUL END (both scheduled for release in 2008).  Best Achievement in Writing (Screenplay based on material previously produced or published) 2001: A BEAUTIFUL MIND 1 nomination, 1 Award