Simon Kinberg


Simon David Kinberg is an American filmmaker. He has written and produced a number of films for 20th Century Fox, including several films in the X-Men film franchise and The Martian, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He made his directorial debut with the film Dark Phoenix, which he also wrote.

Early life

Kinberg was born in Hammersmith, London, England to American parents Monica Menell-Kinberg and Jud Kinberg, a New York City-born writer and producer. From age six, he was raised in Los Angeles, California. He is Jewish. Kinberg graduated from Brentwood High School, and then from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude; in 2003 he received his MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, where he won the Zaki Gordon Fellowship for Screenwriting.

Career

While still in film school, Kinberg sold a pitch to Warner Bros., 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, XXX: State of the Union. His next screenwriting venture was 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. He also has a cameo appearance in the movie, as the banker who converses with John Smith at the dinner party.
Kinberg's next screenwriting job was the third movie in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film series: X-Men: The Last Stand, which he co-wrote with Zak Penn. Comic-book writer Chris Claremont, who wrote the Dark Phoenix storyline that served as the primary source material for the film, also wrote the novelization of the film and made Kinberg a character in the book.
Kinberg reunited with director Doug Liman for the film Jumper. Kinberg wrote and produced the film, 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.
Kinberg was the producer of X-Men: First Class, and both writer and producer of This Means War. 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 Walt Disney Pictures. 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. Kinberg produced 2016's Deadpool, 2017's Logan, 2018's Deadpool 2, 2019's Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, all of which are X-Men spin-off films. He also produced Murder on the Orient Express, an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
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. 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.
In television, he is an executive producer on ABC's Designated Survivor starring Kiefer Sutherland, Legion created by Noah Hawley for FX, and The Gifted on Fox. He executive produced the third revival of the science fiction anthology series, The Twilight Zone which premiered in 2019 on CBS All Access.
In July 2019, it was announced that Kinberg and his production company Genre Films was leaving Fox after 20 years.
On November 7, 2024, it was announced that Kinberg has been hired by Lucasfilm to write and co-produce a new trilogy of Star Wars films along with Kathleen Kennedy.

Personal life

Kinberg married Mali Heled in a Jewish ceremony on July 26, 2001. They have two sons. The couple separated in 2014, and subsequently divorced in 2017. By November 4, 2019, Kinberg became engaged to writer Cleo Wade. They have two daughters; born in 2020 and 2021.

Filmography

Film

Executive producer
  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
  • Death on the Nile
  • Deadpool & Wolverine
Creative consultant
Thanks credit
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  • ''Rogue One''

    Television

Awards and nominations

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 for two X-Men scripts, and named him as one of the highest-paid producers in Hollywood with for Deadpool in their annual Hollywood Salaries issue.
YearCategoryAwardTitleResult
2015Golden Globe AwardsBest Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyThe MartianWon
2015Academy AwardsBest PictureThe MartianNomitated
2015Producers Guild of America AwardsBest PictureThe MartianNomitated
2015National Board of ReviewBest FilmThe MartianNomitated
2015Critics' Choice Movie AwardsBest FilmThe MartianNomitated
2016Critics' Choice Movie AwardsBest ComedyDeadpoolWon
2016Golden Globe AwardsBest Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyDeadpoolNomitated
2016Producers Guild of America AwardsBest PictureDeadpoolNomitated
2019Golden Raspberry AwardWorst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or SequelDark PhoenixNomitated