Edward Zwick

Edward M. Zwick is an American filmmaker. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and epic historical film genres and received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his work producing Shakespeare in Love.
He made his film debut with the comedy About Last Night, followed by Glory, Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire, The Siege, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and Defiance. His later films include Love & Other Drugs, Pawn Sacrifice, and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
He is also the co-creator of the ABC family drama series thirtysomething and Once and Again.

Early life and education

Zwick was born on October 8, 1952, into a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ruth Ellen and Allen Zwick. He attended New Trier High School, received a B.A. at Harvard in 1974, and graduated from the AFI Conservatory with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1975.
Despite sharing a surname and profession, Edward is unrelated to fellow director Joel Zwick. He has been married to actress Liberty Godshall since 1982, and they have two grown children.

Career

His films include Glory, Legends of the Fall, The Siege, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and Defiance. Along with Marshall Herskovitz, Zwick runs The Bedford Falls Company. The film production company has produced such films as Traffic and Shakespeare in Love and the TV shows thirtysomething, Relativity, Once and Again, and My So-Called Life.
Zwick's body of work has earned numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Picture as a producer, and Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series, and Outstanding Dramatic Special. He was one of the recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture for Shakespeare in Love; he was also nominated in the same category for Traffic. He has also been nominated for multiple Golden Globe Awards.
In 2024, Zwick released his memoir, Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood.

Filmography

Film

Television

Television films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
1982	Paper Dolls
1982	Having It All
1983	Special Bulletin
1990	Extreme Close-Up
2009	A Marriage
2020	Thirtysomething

Executive producer only

Year	Title	Notes
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Episode "Sawdust"
1989	Dream Street
1994-95	My So-Called Life
1998	Relativity
2000	The Only Living Boy in New York	TV movie
2000	The Poof Point	TV movie
2002	Women vs. Men	TV movie

Awards and nominations

Directed Academy Award performances
Under Zwick's direction, these actors have received Academy Award wins and nominations for their performances in their respective roles.