Eric Roth

Eric Roth (born March 22, 1945) is an American screenwriter and producer renowned for his adaptations of literary works into acclaimed films, earning six Academy Award nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, including a win for Forrest Gump (1994).

Roth was born in New York City to Jewish parents with communist affiliations; his father worked as a newspaperman and university professor, while his mother served as an executive at United Artists. Raised in Brooklyn, he relocated to Los Angeles during high school and developed an early passion for cinema through screenings at venues like the Paramount Theater. He studied English as a major at Columbia University before transferring to the UCLA Film School, where he received the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award.

Roth's career began in the late 1960s with crew work on independent films and an early script rewrite for The Drowning Pool (1975) at age 19 or 20, facilitated by connections in the industry. Over five decades, he has collaborated with directors such as Steven Spielberg on Munich (2005), David Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Mank (2020), and Here (2024), Martin Scorsese on The Good Shepherd (2006) and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), and Denis Villeneuve on Dune (2021). His other notable works include The Insider (1999), A Star Is Born (2018), and co-producing the Netflix series House of Cards (2013–2016). Roth's screenplays have contributed to films grossing hundreds of millions worldwide, such as Forrest Gump ($683 million) and A Star Is Born ($432 million).