Tony Kushner

Tony Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American playwright and screenwriter whose dramatic works often examine intersections of personal identity, historical events, and political ideology through expansive, multi-character narratives. Born in New York City to Jewish-American parents who were classical musicians, Kushner spent much of his childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana, before attending Columbia College, where he earned a B.A. in 1978 and began reviewing theater.

Kushner's breakthrough came with Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, a two-part epic premiered in 1991 and 1992 that portrays the AIDS crisis amid Reagan-era politics, earning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Millennium Approaches in 1993, two Tony Awards for Best Play, and subsequent adaptation into an HBO miniseries that won multiple Emmys. Other notable stage works include Homebody/Kabul (2001), addressing Afghanistan under Taliban rule, and the musical Caroline, or Change (2003), exploring race and class in 1960s America. As a screenwriter, he penned the script for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012), nominated for an Academy Award, alongside adaptations of Munich (2005) and West Side Story (2021).

Openly gay and married to journalist Mark Harris since 2008, Kushner has incorporated queer experiences and leftist critiques into his oeuvre, identifying as a socialist and advocating for issues like LGBTQ rights and opposition to U.S. interventions abroad. His expressed reservations about Israeli settlement policies in the Palestinian territories—while affirming Israel's right to exist—drew opposition from pro-Israel advocates, notably when City University of New York trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld cited Kushner's views to initially block an honorary degree in 2011, a decision overturned amid debate over academic freedom.